8 Months 8 Pictures 8 Things

Thumb-sucking picture by Leslie

I'm going to pretend I can't count and add one more picture

1:: She says "Mama." She doesn't know what it means, but it melts my heart every time I hear it. Yesterday I was putting her into her car seat and she didn't want to go in, and she gave me this desperate look and said in the saddest little voice, "Mom mom!" Oh my gosh, I almost broke down and pulled her out. She usually says "dada" when she's happy and "mama" when she's sad. 

2:: Whenever she is sitting or laying still, she rotates her little feet in circles, round and round and round, over and over.

3:: And she gives little hugs. She grabs whatever part of your body she can and squeezes her arms really tight and lays her head down on you. But she squeezes so tight, sometimes her sharp fingernails dig into your skin and leave behind red scratches all over your chest and face.

4:: I just can't get over how funny it is that she holds her hands under her chin when she is happy, like a little chunky cherub.

5:: Thinks that drinking out of a cup is the most exciting thing in this world. She giggles whenever she sees me drinking out of a cup and gets so excited when I let her drink out of it too.

6:: When Ella is really happy, you know it, because she tightens her entire body, so tight and kicks her legs and flaps her arms around and makes grunting noises.

7:: And she fake laughs now. How does an 8-month-old even know how to fake anything? It's this little cackle that she does either to grab our attention, or she forces it when something is funny but not that funny. She and Adam have fake laughing wars, she does her fake cackle and he does his and then she does hers again. Come to think of it, I'm fairly positive she learned how to fake laugh from him because he does it all the time to get her to laugh.

8:: She has mastered the inchworm scoot. Put something a couple feet in front of her that she wants (ex: the remote control, a cell phone, a laptop or food-- did you notice how many of these pictures have her eating something? She loves food so much) and she will kick her legs and wiggle her bum and push off with her toes until she has reached the desired item, usually only to have it taken away from her, poor thing.

And just one more picture for good luck, Ella with her old lady face on: