Baby's Emerging Personality

He's finished his 8-month growth spurt and has his fourth tooth now. Whew, that was a difficult phase, but he's a happy baby again.

Thank goodness, the whole Cry It Out thing was a limited-time deal. He's back to happily playing in his crib until he falls asleep, at least most times.

I am really amazed at how much of a sense of humor that Andrew has at 8 months. Andrew gets my jokes! Well, my baby jokes anyway. A couple days ago, I started playing a trick on him. When he sees my reflection in the mirror, I make a funny face and noise. Then, as soon as he looks at me, I stop. Then, he looks back in the mirror and I resume the funny face. He cracks up!

He's such a giggly person in general. He loves it when I tickle him, and he loves "nose kisses", when I tap my nose gently on his. I do this when I'm feeding him and his nose is the only clean part I can get to.

He's also initiating play with us, too, and it's so cute. He'll scream while making eye contact, and I'll scream right back with him, trying to match the pitch. He'll keep it up awhile, and then crack up. Then he'll scream again. He can keep up each scream, and the game, for a long time! It's because of this game that we now have to sit in the cry room during Mass. He tries to play this game with the priest who, for some funny reason, doesn't play back, LOL.

I'm also seeing other parts of his personality in other ways, too. It won't surprise any of us if he is an extrovert. It's probably too early to tell for sure, but let me give you an example. The other night, Jim and I went out to eat after Andrew's bedtime. He was all dressed for bed and we kept him in his carseat. I expected him to either fall asleep (he was exhausted, with rings under his eyes and hadn't napped well all day) or possibly scream and want us to hold him. Instead, he was happy talking to the people next to us, some friendly servers whose shifts were over and having a meal before they left. He was also happy with me feeding him some pieces of chicken from our spicy nachos with some guacamole. Seriously! I tried it on a whim and he couldn't get enough. I fed him the equivalent of two adult bite-size pieces of chicken and probably at least a half a Tablespoon of the guacamole. This was after his bedtime 8 oz. bottle. He spent the whole meal babbling to them and only turning to us occasionally with his mouth open for more food. I was shocked to have such a happy baby at that hour.

However, I've noticed that he's always happier in a crowd. If he should be tired, he won't sleep if we're with others. He just wants to babble away and see everyone and everything. When he's alone with me at home, he consistently tries to get my attention if I'm doing something else. He likes to play on his own sometimes, but I have noticed that he's already learning to be more mischievous when he wants my attention. There is a definite difference between the times he is obviously playing on his own and when he is doing something he's not supposed to and constantly looking my way and babbling. A clue? He doesn't mind one bit when I catch him and tell him no. The main example is him trying to get to the computer CPU while I'm sitting at my desk. Usually the CPU door is closed but I have to open it while the computer is on or the computer will overheat. I think this is normal baby behavior, although I've seen some babies that seem more introverted on a consistent basis.

He's also might turn out to be a very deliberate, determined person, although that, too, is too early to tell. He is consistently that way now, but I think all babies are like that, although I'm not sure. We gave him a toy that has 5 animals that pop up if you push its button. He can't pop them up yet, but, if I do it, he will go through them, one at a time, and put the animal down. If he can't get one after several tries, he'll skip it and go back to it after he's gotten the rest. I've seen him do this kind of thing frequently. I can tell he's gotten into something he's not supposed to because he'll be in the same spot for far longer than usual and very quiet. Yesterday that happened while I was in the kitchen working on something that I thought would be quick but took my attention longer than I should have let it. I turned the corner to see him trying to pull the TV's power strip out of the wall socket! It is too tight for him to get out, even I have trouble with it, but he had managed to get it a fraction of an inch out, so I have to be careful. He's also found some paperwork on top of a high shelf that he is obsessed with. If any toy gets near there, he'll try over and over to climb up and grab those papers. So it will be interesting to see if these things are a fluke or if he really will be a determined, thorough worker.