Drew loves: Everything from last month is still a favorite this month. He favorite thing is still, hands down, standing. New things: turning pages in whatever book we're reading, clapping his feet together.
Drew hates: Update on last month's separation anxiety: I'd say it's gotten better, but barely. He doesn't insta-panic the moment he's left alone anymore. But if it's near his nap time, or he's bonked his head, or if he realizes you're deeply engaged in something else that makes it hard for you to drop everything and tend to him, that's when the water works come on. The improvement is mostly that he's gotten increasingly better at allowing me to comfort him, re-engage him in his activity, and then remove myself without him sobbing. Sometimes I can tell I'm pushing my luck, so I sit on the floor with him and do my own activity (like read a book) while he plays near me, and I count that as independent play. Despite this issue he's having, like I said last month, he still has no trouble going down for naps or bedtime. The only sleep issue that we are having is that he has been waking early from his naps, and in the morning. He doesn't cry though, he just wakes to babble and roll around in his crib. So I leave him be until his nap would be over. We've brought back the cat nap and a later bedtime to compensate for all the awake time he's causing himself, so at least now he's being offered more opportunities (but more spread out) to sleep within a 24 hour period. So far, I think it may be helping.
Milestones: Second tooth is in, pincer grasp nearly down, pulling himself up to standing, lots of standing, rolling in his crib, rocking on all fours, crawling backward and sliding all over the floor...
Although not taking any full steps, he can navigate in a full circle around his activity garden. I also arrange the couch so he can play with his toys without them getting out of his reach, and he somehow navigates his way back and forth up and down the couch. I wouldn't call it "cruising" just yet, but I'm sure that's coming soon. He's continually adding sounds to his vocab, and he's got to be seconds away from saying "dada"!
Favorite moments: I am still loving meal time. He has moved on to eating about half of the food we eat (I usually just puree it for him), and half typical baby food that I make for him (think: sweet potato puree, applesauce, etc). He's an adventurous eater, and I love it! He's also understanding - for now - that meal time is not play time. We certainly want him to be playful and creative, but mealtime is for meals. Eventually meal time for him will include connecting with family, but either way, it's not play time. To that end, Drew behaves well at meal time: he doesn't put his hands in his mouth unnecessarily, doesn't make a mess, doesn't scream and demand his food, etc. I wouldn't say we're actively training him in his behavior yet, but we certainly discourage bad behavior at this point by ignoring it, correcting him (i.e. remove his foot off the table if he puts it up there), and praising good behavior. I also keep meal time very predictable, and I don't drag it out. We sit down, we pray, we eat, we move on to activity time (where I encourage him to play and be as creative as an 8 month can be!).
Drew's also gotten a little bashful, and he will turn and snuggle into my neck and smile coyly at whomever is talking to him. I love, love, love it!
Here are some pics (and videos!) from the past month. Before pics of Drew, I need to give Kyle a shout out for planning a wonderful 30th birthday for me (with the help of some very thoughtful friends and family):
Kyle arranged for some of my college girlfriends to have a fun night-in filled with wine and yummy "Stephanie" food. Almost all the food items involved cheese of some sort...they know me far too well!
Kyle also arrange for a surprise celebration with our church community group...
More cake (and ice cream)! And now you see the reason for the diet I talked about in the last blog post...
Kyle organized a Hansen family surprise party, too!
Party guests
More family
Lots of time for socializing!
Me and the hubs. I'm very proud of all the work he did to make my birthday special!
Kids' dance party! Call me crazy, but I love a good flock of kids at a family celebration (like at our wedding)!
My sister is so darn crafty...look at that talent!
Kyle booked a massage for me...I enjoyed every 60 minutes of it!
Kyle also stayed home from work and made me all my meals for the day!
Homemade eggs benny, with as much hollandaise as you can stomach!
We also went out to dinner with my dad, mom and sister. My mom got me some beautiful flowers that filled the house with tropical smell all week!
Ok, now for pics of Drew!
Mom and Drew selfie!
Visiting with my long time friend Brynn, and her son Rhodes (3 weeks younger than Drew).
Brynn was in town for only a few short days, so it was great to see her!
You have to look closely to see it, but Drew fell asleep in the car holding his toy. I thought it was so darn cute. (I took this picture while stopped in traffic, not while driving!)
This is the Activity Garden that he loves to do his standing in!
Drew and I started reading time every morning in this chair. I snapped this pic from the kitchen of him just sitting in the chair with his books and his teddy, waiting for mom. Melts my heart!
Side by side: Drew and I as babies...it's pretty clear who his eyes came from ;-)
Play time with great-grandpa Bob. I love this picture...
Swing time!
He loves the swings, so it's a new activity that we do when it's not raining (so like, never)
Just watching the world go by at the park
His crawl stance. He backed himself in the couch, but can't go forward yet. Soon though, I'm sure!
8 month pics...sit down, and be prepared for unparalleled levels of cuteness (it's my blog, and my son, so I'm completely allowed to state authoritatively how cute Drew is in these pics!):
This was the first pic I snapped...he's a natural!
Those chunky legs!
His "raised eyebrow" look cuts straight to my heart!
"Mom - what are these?"
Trying to determine if he should try to eat the necklace...
The answer is "yes", definitely "yes".
"Mom, you're chalkboard art could really use some more effort"
My sister showed up right about this time, he's looking at her in this picture. We went to the park after these photos :)
His eyes are still grey with flecks of brown...so neat looking! And look at those eyelashes. Not fair!
Baby foot
Baby hands
My favorite view: eyelashes + chunky little cheeks!
Was trying to capture his two teeth on the bottom, but this was the best I could get...they are there though!
And here are some videos:
Drew moving backwards
A typical morning at our house: Drew playing in the Activity Garden
This is Drew's second time going from sitting to standing. I missed the first time; I just turned around and he was standing! So I grabbed my phone, sat him down, and sure enough he pulled himself right up!
Giving it grace: Baby Wise (the book/method we consult for general parenting guidance for Drew) talks about a thing called "credit card parenting". Credit Card Parenting is basically the idea that you should begin as you mean to go, or else you will pay for it later but with debt (much like a credit card: pay as you go or you'll wind up with debt). A practical example of that is table manners (which I talked about a little bit above): train the child now in how to behave at the table, otherwise you will have to retrain them later and it will be more difficult at that time. I'm not sure that it's true of all things with raising a child, but we certainly apply it to the areas that are the most feasible. "Train, don't retrain" is the motto that goes along with Credit Card Parenting.
I was thinking about this concept the other day, and realizing it applies pretty perfectly to sin as well. Begin as you mean to go; train, don't retrain. Deal with it now, or deal with it later and with more debt at that time. The longer we put off dealing with our sin, the more it builds. Although Jesus fully paid our debt, there are still worldly consequence of our sin. So often we try to merely "manage" our sin, and then end up paying for it later. Later, when it's that much harder to put that sin to death because it's become a habit, idol, or identity in our lives. Or worse, when it has caused destruction in our lives or the lives of others. Acknowledging, repenting of, and fleeing from sin when it initially presents itself is going to be much more fruitful than the alternative. The reality is though, it's impossible not to sin because of our sin nature. Yet the Good News is that Jesus paid the debt of our past, present, and future sin. He literally saved us from having to pay our own debt for our sin. And that's what we're hoping to model for Drew in our parenting...and not so that he'll be a perfectly behaved little guy (although that'd be awesome), but so that he might have a chance at fully understanding the Gospel in his head and in his heart at a young age. We want him to understand his sin, and that for our sake God - in his grace and love for us - made Jesus to be sin, who knew no sin, so that we may inherit the righteousness of God (2 Corinthians 5:21). And yes I got all that out of a paragraph in a book talking about "credit card parenting"!
Before I end, I have to share that we finally received in the mail our sponsorship package from Amazima Ministries. God has been continually pressing this organization on my heart, and after much prayer Kyle and I used some our Christmas money to sponsor a child through this organization. I waited weeks for the child's information to come in the mail and it finally did! I cried when reading about the child (and children) who are being served through this ministry, and having Jesus' love modeled to them on a daily basis as a result. If you want to read about this ministry, or sponsor a child yourself, you can do so here.
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