When I’m not busy abandoning/starving* her, Caroline is still the sweetest baby ever. Notice I didn’t say “most cooperative” or “easiest” or “least likely to shatter your eardrums” because damn, that girl knows what she wants when she wants it and is not shy about screeching until she gets it. You’re eating a grape? How DARE you eat a grape! GIVE ME THAT GRAPE!

Speaking of grapes, Caroline eats ANYTHING. An-eeeeee-thing. The only thing holding her back is missing chompers – she only has two full teeth (the bottom front two) and one little sharp edge on the top, so chewing up her spicy pulled pork sandwich was a little difficult. But by golly she gave it her best shot! Her favorite things so far are mini pretzels, clementines, apples, and cheese sticks. She also decided to tolerate a spoon, so I bought a bunch of those sqeezey pouches and the little spoon attachment for them (GENIUS, amirite?) but feeding her like that takes so much…effort. Baby-led weaning for the lazy parenting win.

Despite all the eating she remains a tiny peanut sized baby, wearing mostly 3-6 month onesies and 6 month dresses. In public, strangers stop to tell me she’s so LITTLE and how can she possibly be SITTING UP in that shopping cart, since she can’t be more than 4 or 5 months old?! It blows their mind that she’s 8 months old, and then their minds are doubly blown when she smiles at them and her cuteness lasers shoot out of her giant eyes and they fall right over dead from adorable. She’s a lady-killer – especially elderly ladies at the grocery store.

I think being tiny is working to her advantage in the motor skills department. Her lack of chub makes her body easier to haul around, which explains her lightening speed crawling and her independent standing skills. THAT’S RIGHT. My eight-months-old-today baby will crawl to something, pull herself up, and then just….let go and stand. I’m only a little ashamed to admit I’ve started knocking her over (GENTLY AND LOVINGLY, OBVS) so she doesn’t get any ideas about walking, but her balance is amazing and sometimes she refuses to be knocked.

I’m betting she takes her first steps in less than 3 weeks – which would put her a full month ahead of her brother when it comes to walking (Little Evan started at 9 months, 3 weeks and I thought that was INSANE). I’m going to have two babies running in opposite directions within a month. HOLD ME.

Being attacked by a toddler in a tutu is just part of her day

Ok, so she has some KIND OF chubby bits

Someone's quickly losing patience with these monthly photo shoots

8 Month Milestones (from BabyCenter, as usual)

Mastered Skills (most kids can do)
Says “mama” or “dada” to parents (isn’t specific) – Her babbling has really picked up and she says mama and dada, but I don’t know if it’s TO a parent.
Passes objects from hand to hand – Yes

Emerging Skills (half of kids can do)
Stands while holding onto something – Pulls up, stands, LETS GO. I’m signing her up for tightrope lessons for her first birthday.
Crawls – She’s a crawling machine.
Points at objects – Uh….no. I have seen no pointing. Mostly she just goes and gets what she wants.
Searches for hidden objects – Yeah, like my iPhone. You CANNOT HIDE IT FROM HER.

Advanced Skills (a few kids can do)
Pulls self to standing, cruises – Yes
Picks things up with thumb-finger pincer grasp – She can pick up small things (goldfish crackers, half a grape, bits of dog hair) and get them in her mouth, but it’s mostly a grab-with-her-fist-and-shove method.
Indicates wants with gestures – Yes, if by “gestures” you mean “high pitched pterodactyl screams”.

I will try to get some videos of Caroline doing adorable Caroline-like things this weekend, because there is no way to describe in words how weird it looks when such a TEENY TINY baby chases you down and climbs your leg.

*My supply is back to normal and I’m hoping to re-build my freezer stash ASAP. I’m SO relieved.

Tags: 8 months, Caroline, milestones, monthday update, photos