Elia Turns 8 Months. Last month we were watching Elia develop her coordination, this month a lot of it came to a head. For crawling, she was up on all fours rocking trying to get moving, a phenomenon that still happens as she gets going, like a car revving. Elia began to crawl on the 8th of August, Father’s Day in Chinese. She crawls everywhere now, but doesn’t turn all that well. She will rest on her belly to turn or bump her head against a wall or obstacle repeatedly as if not understanding that it is in her way. In fact, she would do the revving thing and bump her head a lot.
When Elia started crawling, she still had not pulled herself to a sitting position, but would work to stand as much as she could. She would put her hands on Albert’s chest while he was lying down and bring herself to her feet. On August 12 she stood up holding her play saucer where Erin took her picture. Shortly after this she began sitting on her own.
In August, Elia started not sleeping unless she was held, something that Curie did as well for a while. When we put Elia down, she would start crying. She didn’t want to nurse, she didn’t want a bottle. Albert would pick her up and walk until the wee hours so she would have some sleep, then he would switch with Erin to hold her for the rest of the night. Untenable right? Albert was a lot grouchier at work (but did not let anyone go), Erin was shorter at home. Elia had been starting baby foods, and one night Albert just fed her an extra one, and she slept longer, so this meant she was hungry. We started giving her more for school and at home, and that helped. The other day, we had an air conditioning problem again and it was warmer upstairs – Elia slept longer still. She is still afraid to be alone, but we are hopeful that she will sleep longer – until teething of course.
Here is a crazy thing. Elia is trying to communicate with us. She is using the same sounds over and over in certain moods. We think she has said “mama” but that might be hopeful speculation. She claps one hand on a fist when she wants to be picked up or changed. When Albert feeds her water with a glass, she hits the glass with her fist to say she wants more.
This month Yischon’s family visited and we went swimming in the hotel pool with Elia. She went for much longer this time. She played with the mobile for the first time and was mesmerized – the mobile is in Curie’s room, and the crib is in ours. Elia rode in the shopping cart and Curie’s push car for the first time this month as well, prompting Curie to want to ride with her (Costco carts are two seaters).
As a mobile baby, everything is fantastic to her, she explores every nook and cranny prompting cries of “woah, not there!” and “Mommy, Elia wants my <fill in the blank>.” Still, it is pretty amazing. Curie is the only person who can consistently make Elia smile, and Elia is much more alert and interactive. This month they started to play together; a little rough-housing that needs to be monitored, but they are sisters: holding hands (Curie holding Elia’s hand), hugging (Curie hugging Elia), and playing together. As Alberta commented in a previous post, they are BFFs, best friends forever.
