Beach Family: Eight Months

Now this is just not acceptable! How do you make someone stop growing up? A sorcerer's stone? I used to think that 8 months old was still a tiny baby but it is not! Cooper might as well be a toddler, he never wants to snuggle and he likes to throw toys across the room. As sad as it is, it's also so fun to watch him grow and learn new things. This month he has developed a lot!

This month:

For months we have been showing Cooper the sign for more. It involves putting your fingers together gently and nicely. I think I was under the impression Cooper would use these quiet sweet sign language moves to communicate with me and then he would go pick me some wild flowers and brush my hair as we listened to Enya. News flash you naive idiot. Cooper communicates wanting more (or just wanting anything) through an incredibly loud scream/grunt that turns his face purple. The other night at a restaurant he was doing this new trick while looking at my food and my mom was like, "I think you can forget about that sign language..." Now Cooper spends most of the day hollering for something, my food, my phone, wanting to bang on the computer keys... I think his little body hasn't caught up to the desire to get into stuff yet and it's making him frustrated.

This picture doesn't capture it too well but he stiffens his limbs, balls his fists, and holds his breath when he wants something.

Just as I thought he would never learn to crawl, all of the sudden in the same day he started scooting backwards and getting up on his knees and rocking back and forth. What a cutie. He scoots really far backwards and then gets kind of mad that he got so far away from his mommy and toys. It's so fun to watch him learn new things, it's almost as if he can't help it. Cooper just bings up onto his knees like a little whack a mole.

Cooper loves my cell phone and for a while he would scream his head off whenever I talked on the phone because he was jealous that he wasn't playing with it. Whenever I'd get done with the phone I'd hand it to him and let him play with it and then wonder if I'd ever be able to talk on the phone in quiet anymore. After a few times of handing him the phone when I was done, he learned that if he waited for me to be done talking he could play with it. Now when I'm on the phone he waits patiently for me to be done and then reaches his hand out for the phone as soon as I hang up. It's funny how quick they pick these things up.

A few months ago Cooper would grab my brother's dog like a rag doll and never let go. Now Cooper seems to grasp that a dog is different than one of his toys, he is really gentle and kind of timid around him now. He pets him gently and pulls his hand back quickly when he gets scared.

Cooper started doing something really sweet this week. When he's tired, he lays on the floor and drinks his bottle with one hand and then rubs his head with his other hand. How relaxing.

Cooper is quickly developing his motor skills! He has learned how to roll a ball back and forth.

After watching where I push on Elmo to make him talk, Cooper imitates me and pushes Elmo in the exact same spot.

And Cooper has learned how to pattycake by himself! When you start singing pattycake he will lightly pat his hands together! It is sooooooooo cute.

So those are all the new things my little sweetheart has done this month. I didn't realize until after I had taken these pictures and put them on the computer that Cooper is pretty much a filthy mess, his outfit is dirty, he has carrots caked all over his face, and drool streaming down his chin. But photo shoots are not Cooper's favorite pass time so oh well, these pictures will encapsulate how Cooper really looks most of the time.

Love you big boy!