8 month milestones

A few days before turning 8 months old

Mastered Skills (Most children can do)
Says "dada" and "mama" to both parents (isn't specific)
Logan isn't saying anything so clearly yet, but he is definitely making lots of noise and will repeat certain sounds.
Begins to crawl
Yes, while we were on vacation, Logan officially moved from creeping on his tummy to crawling on all fours.
Passes object from hand to hand
Yes, I guess he does this, but I didn't really play much attention to it.  He will move a spoon from one hand to another, so I will say it counts!

Emerging Skills (Half of children can do)
Stands while holding onto something
Yes, he loves to stand up.  At daycare, he stands, holding onto the baby swing that Raylene hangs out in and "talks" to his girlfriend.
Crawls well
I wouldn't say well just yet, but he's all over the place and getting faster everyday.
Points at objects
I haven't really noticed this yet.

Advanced Skills (A few children can do)
Pulls self to standing position, cruises around furniture while holding on
Logan will pull to a standing position as of this weekend, but isn't quite cruising yet.  I have a feeling its coming soon.
Picks things up with thumb-finger "pincer" grasp
Yes, he loves to eat!  Baby puffies are his main non-pureed food right now, but he picked up and tried some macaroni and cheese a few days ago and was in heaven!
Indicates wants with gestures
Again, I haven't really noticed this yet.  He will grab for his bottle when he sees it though, so maybe that counts.

Oh, Potty Training

The potty training saga is ongoing at our house.  This has by far been the most challenging part of my parenting journey to date.  I suppose that means that I've been fairly lucky with a laid back kid, who listens relatively well and is a usually a people pleaser.

James is getting better and better with using the potty all the time.  He still puts a fight about it most of the time, but if you tell him to go upstairs and use the potty, he will.  Now when he has an accident he responds, "But I didn't mean to," which is actually pretty cute, even though it means that I'm cleaning up wet undies!  Going to underwear all day, regardless of accidents, has really helped.  He is grumpy when his pants are wet, so he is more likely to actually hold it.  Obviously, he gets a dry pair, but when he's at daycare, that can take a minute or so.  He will still very rarely tell you that he has to potty, but if he goes every 30 to 45 minutes, he's been very successful in his big boy underwear.  I am hoping this trend continues, although he does have days where he just has no interest (like last Thursday when he went through 5 pairs of underwear at daycare).

I should also mention that little boy underwear are really cute?  He just looks like such a big kid, running around in his cartoon character underoos.  My baby is growing up.

James in his Despicable Me undies

Vacation

After a bit of a hiatus, here I am!  We went on a wonderful vacation to North Topsail Beach, NC last week and it was a fabulous break from work and daily life.  The four of us rented a house right on the beach and had a great time.  James and Logan ended up loving the beach, while Mac and I are still more reserved about it.  While I was a beach bum kind of baby, as an adult, all the sand and sunscreen and salty air kind of annoy me.  But I sucked it up and everyone was happy.
Logan thoroughly enjoyed throwing himself into the sand, particularly after getting a fresh coat of sunscreen.  How else would he get so much sand coverage?  Children's sunscreen is really glue.
James took a day or so to warm up to going in the water, but once he did, he quickly turned into a daredevil.  My mom says that Travis, my older brother, was always more reserved in the water, while I was diving into the bath tub from 6 months on and jumping off the high dive at 2 years old.  I think James is definitely more like Travis and Logan is more like me in that respect.  Now that the boys are taking baths together and Logan isn't so restricted by his baby tub, he's always going head first into the water.  Talk about a major heart attack for his mother.

Another Tooth Chart

On Tuesday, I picked the boys up (after going to the gym, thank you!) and Rhonda was excited as soon as I walked in.  She yelled, "I was going to call you!" and I immediately thought something was wrong.  But nothing was wrong, she was just excited that Logan's first tooth popped through during his nap!  Logan's lower right central incisor came through just days after his 7 month birthday.  James didn't get his first tooth until 11 months, after months of dramatic teething.  Logan seemed pretty laid back about this tooth coming in, a little drool, a little Tylenol and that was it.  So I've started his tooth chart, although I noticed that James' last 3 molars are not marked on his.  You see what pregnancy did to me?  I got complacent on James' tooth record!  Oh well, he's got the teeth and he's been to the dentist, that's about all I can do!  I will try to keep up with Logan's though, at least for his first few teeth.

They're going to make it

After a pretty quick trip to the doctor on Thursday, both boys were given a fairly clean bill of health.  They had a cold virus and didn't need antibiotics.  I got the okay to give Logan a small dose of Claritin to dry up some of his snot (even though he doesn't have allergies... yet.) and told to give James Delsym for his cough.  Kids under 4 aren't really allowed much cold or cough medicine, but the combination of the Delsym and James' usual Claritin has helped him sleep better.
The kids' usual pediatrician was at a conference, so we had to see his associate.  We have seen her before and I really like her.  She actually was the pediatrician for both of Rhonda's girls, so I know she is highly regarded.  However, when I took James to the bathroom after waiting for her for 15 or so minutes, I saw her sitting in her office.  We used the potty (James is at the phase where he wants to see any and all public bathrooms) and then sat for at least 10 more minutes.
Perhaps she was doing something important in her office or following up with another patient, but when I'm sitting in an exam room with two impatient children, one of whom is only wearing a diaper, I want immediate service.  When she came in, I was annoyed, but then she chatted with James for a minute and I got over it.  I have to learn to be more patient, but again, two snotty children in an exam room with one exasperated mother may not be the moment that I learn more patience.
I did appreciate that she directed all of her questions to James, first about how his summer was going, and second about how he was feeling and then looked to me for confirmation.  James was right on with all of his answer, for the most part.  Well, except for the part about going to France on vacation.

Dad the Chair

James decided to sit on his father today. He just hopped right on Adam as he laid on the floor.

I asked him, "James, is Daddy a chair?"

He replied, "Yes, and a bed too."

Glad we cleared that up.

Two sick boys

Both boys are sick with colds, so I am home today.  They've both been coughing and stuffy and this morning, they were especially miserable.  Logan was fussy, trying to eat with a stuffy nose, and just grumpy overall.  James was tired, stuffy, and looked at me rather pathetically and asked to stay home.  So here we are.  Logan was so fussy that I would have felt terrible taking him to Rhonda's anyway.  I've also been worried because Logan's eyes are a bit red and I am hoping its not pink eye.  Either way, its been a few days of illness and neither really getting better, so we'll go see the pediatrician today.
After Logan finally gave in and fell asleep about 2 hours ago, James woke up and has been quietly playing and watching cartoons.  James also asked to use the potty (maybe we're finally getting there?!?!?) and took a shower.  I'll try to call the doctor in a few minutes and see when we can come in.  If we can go in the morning and the boys are cleared, I will hopefully go into work this afternoon.  And if not, we'll just stay home.
James says the most hilarious things sometimes.  He just knocked over an empty water glass (one of the big plastic tumblers you bring home from a baseball game) and he looked at me and said, "Daddy would be angry about that.  He would yell and I would cry."  This was pretty funny, because Adam is the least likely person in the world to yell at James and make him cry.  But I told him it was okay, we all have accidents and then we hug and make up.  I didn't want him to think he'd really get yelled at for knocking something over.  Also, if one of us was going to yell, it would definitely be me.
So here we are at home, Logan should wake up soon and want to eat.