Milestones

I am worried that I will forget all of these things that fill my days now. It seems like the boys are changing daily and I have not captured much of their progress. I don't take pictures anymore. I don't capture cuteness on video, and I don't write at all. I just know that my memory will fail me and I will wish I had kept better track of changes...

Playing: Roark and Cole are smiling a lot now, and they roll around quite a bit. However, they refuse to sit up on their own and tip over if you try to make them sit them up. They like to stand holding onto someone’s hands, but have no real balance of their own. They are very social now and love to jabber and watch everything around them. They both love to play with their toys on the floor – a little cheap blue rattle is one of the favorites. They also enjoy chewing on plastic books. They love the jumping chair, and tolerate the exersaucer-chair-thing. They each have a walker, but are only interested in those if they are by a window so that they can look longingly outside. They LOVE outside, and are usually fantastic on walks.

Demeanor: Roark still enjoys a good scream. He is a very serious child, and simply will not tolerate anything less than perfection. He is at his most annoying when in the car – he HATES the car. He hates it, and wants everyone on flippin’ earth to know. Have you heard distant high-pitched wailing lately? It was my son, and I do apologize. Cole is still the polar opposite of Roark in both looks and personality. He is the most fun-loving, easy-going baby I have ever been around. Everything is funny. Schedules do not matter to him, and he eats ALL THE TIME! 3:00am? Cole is hungry. Midnight? Cole is hungry. 45 minutes after his last bottle? He is hungry.

Sleep: We have started putting the boys to bed while they are still awake (instead of rocking them to sleep or putting them in the swing) and I have to say – they are not fans. Roark will hang out in his bed and play a bit, but when he gets really tired he begins his irritating screaming. He can keep that up for at least 20 minutes…maybe longer. He eventually roles over and goes to sleep. Cole on the other hand will fall asleep while hanging out in his bed, but if he conks out on his back, he will wake up way too early and refuses to go back to sleep. He seldom cries when going to bed, and will usually only cry when he wakes up if he is really hungry.

Food: The boys drink around 4 bottles a day. They eat cereal (oatmeal or rice cereal) for breakfast and have vegetables and fruit for dinner. They are learning to master the sippy-cup (if master means they are able to pour more on their faces then in their mouths) and are huge fans of cookies and other foods they can pick up and chew on. They HATE the baby foods that have any kinds of solids in them, but they can eat zwieback toast, baby biscuits, and cheerios. What is up with that? Freaks.

Crawling: They don’t crawl. They don’t walk. They don’t have jobs or pay taxes, but the do roll and scoot. They will sometimes rock back and forth on their hands and knees, but show no signs of mobility beyond that. Still, we can tell that it is right around the corner and are going to start baby-proofing this weekend. If we wait too much longer we could end up with injured kids.
Overall Analysis: Two normal 8 month old kids, who are only supposed to be 5 months old. They are a little slow if you judge based on actual age, a little a head if you go by adjusted age. Busy - busy, busy, busy. Always eating, or pooping, or crying, or playing. Always doing something, and very seldom are they sleeping.