8 months old – Oh, and Merry Christmas!

Today, Christmas day, you turn 8 months old. You have become such a little interactive human this month.

You are working on many new skills. You clapped your hands at Lily's concert – after being very surprised by everyone else clapping after each performance. You even sang along. Okay, it was a low moan, but the fact is you were trying to participate.

You look at books. Open the book, close the book. Open the book, close the book. Open the book, turn some pages. And you open cupboards. Open the cupboard, close the cupboard. Look at the grown-up holding you, smile and look for approval or praise.

You don't crawl yet, but if you want to get somewhere – like to the Christmas tree – you will roll there.

You have learned to show how much you want mama, usually in the form of lunging for me. I can't even walk by you when you're playing on the floor without you grabbing my leg. When you are in my arms, you smile and turn away from anyone else who puts out "uppy" arms for you. But you do give daddy love, too. When he got home from work the other day, you tried to crawl across the bed to see him.

Look! A new tooth on top there.

You provide ample comic relief by shaking your head when we ask you questions. Like the other day when Lily came home from the dentist we said, "Now that you have teeth, you'll get to go to the dentist soon." To which you responded no, no, no with head shaking. You also tend to say "no" to Lily the most, whether it's by shaking your head, pushing her away or by disapprovingly grunting at her.

Yes, you are a grunter. It's how you communicate a want. (Crying is still how you communicate your needs.) As soon as we sit down for supper, you immediately freak out and grunt with all your might in hopes that we will shove food into your mouth. So we do, whatever is on our plates. There's been lasagna noodles, chicken, stew, pineapples. You like it all. Especially toast. Sourdough to be exact.

You play piano and you do it with purpose. You travel up and down the keys in mad search of the high notes, then the low notes, then some light tickling of the ivorys followed by intense banging. You could be a prodigy. You also play ukulele; it's especially nice when you're banging the beaded garland from the Christmas tree over the strings.

And here you are pulling yourself up. Very talented.

You like to hit stuff. A lot. Bang. Bang, bang. That's the sound of your toys hitting each other. It's fun to watch, but we have to be sure not to sit too close.

You have lots of hair, but you scratch little cuts in your head when trying to relax.

You are overall a brave, beautiful boy who sometimes sleeps with the covers over your head so we have to find you when you wake up, but we're always happy to find you there.