Kira's 8th Month

                        

Two exciting things happened for Kira this month, she got her first two teeth (at the same time) and she learned to crawl!


Her teething experience was fairly pain-free.  She hadn't been sleeping great, but it was pretty typical, and so nothing felt out of the ordinary.  We were traveling to Monmouth one weekend to celebrate Chloe's third birthday, and the last hour stretch became a bit painful for both kids (normal).  Anyhow, I was trying to soothe Kira by letting her suck on my finger, since she had thrown her binky for the hundredth time, and that's when I felt a little tooth coming through.  Within a week her two bottom teeth had popped through and were plainly visible.


As mentioned previously, Kira had figured out how to get up on all fours and had been rocking in the previous month, but hadn't quite gained enough coordination to move forward in a traditional crawl.  On March 21, a light bulb went off in Kira's brain and she was crawling.  It started off quite wobbly and slow, and she's been gaining speed ever since.

Now that Kira's fully mobile, Quinn likes to pretend like she is his doggie.  He'll walk around and pat his leg saying, "Come eer, Kira, come girl, come eer."  And when she follows his directions he'll pat her head and say "Good girl."  He also enjoys a game a fetch every now and then (read: daily).  After tossing a toy he'll say with encouragement, "Go get it, Kira, go get it."  He'll also toss a toy away from himself and urge her to go and fetch it when he doesn't want to share.  This doesn't work as effectively, for her objective is usually to be with him.

Auntie Riah came and spent a few days with us this month, and Kira (Pat, Quinn, and I) loved having her around.  We traveled back to Monmouth to celebrate Easter with the family (one week early) as well.  So, much of the month was spent with family.  Kira didn't get the whole Easter thing this year, of course.  But, she looked cute sitting in her little dress while the bigger kids raced around gathering eggs.

She also sat in a swing for the first time.  Her face stayed like this the whole time.

Kira experimented a little with couch walking this month, but mainly tripped over her feet while doing so.  I'd say she moved a foot or two at a time (while holding on).  She certainly prefers to be on her feet, even though she can get wherever she'd like to go by crawling.
                                       

Happiest with a little dirt and leaves to chew on.

 The last days of her 8th month, Kira pulled herself up at her exersaucer and let go.  I was sitting next to her and saw the fear in her eyes when she realized that she had no support, at which point she immediately held on again.  The balance isn't there yet!




Kira had been quite the mama's girl up until this point, but something shifted and she became quite fond of Daddy as well.  In fact, she may have preferred him.  She lit up whenever he entered the room, and seemed to be happiest in his arms.  He's quite smitten as well.





We love you, baby girl!  Happy 8 months!