Isaac turned 8 months the day before Christmas Eve, so I’m just now getting around to writing this after all the holiday hubbub is well over.

Chris and I are really enjoying seeing Isaac’s little personality bubble through more and more every day.  And bubbly, he is!  He’s such a sweet, happy little guy.  He always has a big smile on his face, is quick to laugh and charm everyone around him.

At 8 months, Isaac weighs (err, weighed) 20 lb 1/2 oz!  He has massive thighs and a nice, chunky butt  .  He’s wearing mostly 9 month clothing, except in some brands that run slim and then he’s wearing 12 mo.

Isaac has been pulling up to his knees for a few weeks now, but right at Christmas pulled himself up to standing at the coffee table for the very first time!  He regularly pulls himself to standing while holding onto my clothes, but this time he didn’t have any help.  He’s started a very limited “cruising” – mostly moving himself around the outside of his music activity table very slowly.  He’s not very steady, but he’s fast, so I have to keep a pretty close eye on him or he’ll try standing in the bathtub to get to the faucet (he loves to feel where the water comes out), or will launch himself up by pushing off of me to get to the side table by the recliner, knocking everything off of it in the process.

He’s trying to crawl, but not getting anywhere much yet.  He’s up on all fours, but can’t figure out how to propel himself forward.  He gets up on his toes a lot, and when he is on his hands and knees just ends up going backward, but he’ll get there soon enough.  He loves getting onto his knees from a sitting position and will play with his toys while kneeling, which kinda cracks me up.  And just a couple days ago, he figured out how to go from on his stomach to a sitting position!

Just a few minutes later, he scooted himself over to his walking toy and pulled himself to standing.  Talk about a big morning, haha.

It’s amazing how mobile those little moves have made him!  He is suddenly all over the place.  He can move from one side of the room to the other in no time at all.  God help us when he actually starts to crawl, haha.

His favorite toys are anything that stacks – I’ll stack ‘em up and he knocks ‘em down!  He loves when you bounce a ball or throw it up in the air.  You’ll get the biggest smiles that way, and lots of arm-flapping.  Wooden blocks are still big winners, and so is his new telephone pull-toy from his Aunt Rachel.  He loves when I talk on the phone, then put the phone to his ear.  In fact, he’s started mimicking us lately.  If I talk into a cup so it echoes, then hold it to his mouth, he’ll talk into it as well and then grin at the sound.  He easily mimics sounds like tongue clickings now, too, and especially loves to fake cough after you’ve been coughing.  He always waits for our reaction, then smiles mischievously.

Eating has been so much fun lately.  All of a sudden, he’s decided he’s interested in food!  He’s decidedly uninterested in being spoon-fed and very much determined to feed himself, whether it’s bits of cheese or pear, or eating the carpet fuzz off the floor (why oh why did we buy a wool rug that sheds?!).

Isaac absolutely adores water.  From a sippy cup, or a cup with a straw, or he will even drink from a regular cup!  He likes me to use a straw to drop water into his mouth – it’s the easiest way to keep him happy in a restaurant, since all he wants to do these days is grab-grab-grab everything in sight.

I’ve caught him drinking out of the cup in the bathtub – he loves drinking tub water, haha.  In fact, he’s constantly on his hands and knees in the tub and will drop his face down to the water to take a sip.

I may have mentioned before that we’ve entered the “stranger danger” territory.  It’s not as much stranger danger as he really doesn’t want anyone but Mama, but it amounts to almost the same thing.  He’s no longer even happy with Chris holding him if I’m also in the room.  If I put him down and walk away…even 3 feet away…instant wails.  God forbid I leave the room while he’s watching.  It usually goes better if I can sneak out while he’s playing.  He’s been super-clingy also, constantly reaffirming that I’m there by touching my knee while he’s playing or wanting to be held ALL DAY LONG.  He’s perfected the sad cry-that’s-not-a-cry which tears at my heartstrings.  It’s absolutely an incredible feeling being the ONE person in this little guy’s life that he wants.  I’m his everything.  I know this is all part of the developmental stage he’s in, and tiring though it can be at times, it makes me feel pretty special.

It’s quite a privilege to be entrusted with this tiny human, watching him and guiding him as he grows and learns.  I am constantly amazed by how his mind works – you can see the wheels turning and lights going on right in front of your very eyes.

I’m trying not to think about how we’re already well on our way to 9 months…it’s going too fast!