Eight months seems like such a long time. Julia has been doing really fun things lately and changing so quickly. It is hard to believe that this baby will start to sit, crawl, pull up, and walk all in the next four months.

This month she finally started to enjoy being on her tummy for any length of time, she mastered rolling over and uses the technique to get around the room to get things, she started eating solid food with a variety of success, she moved out of the cradle to the big girl bed, she is now sharing a room with her big sister, we got a bumbo so that she could enjoy sitting on her own more, we all went went camping, she made her first trip to the pool, and she is interacting with the world in a physical and verbal way.

She has enjoyed freedom of movement. She has rolled herself to Daddy’s electronics, into tight spots, to toys, and even into a toy bag (no worries, no danger of suffocation with this bag). The movement gives her the ability to follow Emily around the living room and get her stuff. Emily hasn’t grasped the consequences of giving things to Julia to play with – you don’t always get them back when you want them. Julia is willing to take anything that you have in your hands if she can get to them. This means that she can’t be held while eating and cooking without playing tug-o-war. It also gets your hair and earrings pulled with consistency.

One of my favorite times of the day with Julia is when we go to get Emily out of bed. Julia wakes up earlier than Emily and gets her first breakfast meal. When Emily wakes up, Julia and I go to the door and knock. Julia waves her arms up and down like a bird taking to flight and tries to ‘knock’ on the door herself. Then we go in and Julia’s face lights up into a smile if she hadn’t started it at the door. This smile is mirrored by Emily and her excitement to see Julia. Every morning Emily invites Julia to play in her bed with her. I didn’t know how much I would enjoy just watching the girls take such enjoyment in each other.

Julia talks a lot with little noises. She knows that if she makes noises she can get the attention of others. One day we were playing with some other kids and heard a child shriek. Within 30 seconds out popped Julia’s matching shriek. Luckily we don’t hear that every day. Julia’s will have a conversation of ‘ba, ba, ba’ with herself or the thing she has in her hands. When we are in the car I will hear Julia and Emily sharing the ‘ba, ba, ba’ conversation. It usually is followed with Emily announcing to me that “Sister said, ba”.