Maya at 8 Months

A week or so ago, Maya turned 8 months old. 

Our smiley little girl 

Curious about the world around her

Sweet 

and adorable

 but already sure of what she wants and determined to get it... 

and what she wants right now above 

all else is to be able to walk on her own... 

At 8 months Maya LIKES:

• Her big brother - her face lights up when she sees him;
• Walking, walking, walking and more walking (while holding one or two hands);
• Guantanamera sung by Joan Baez - she falls asleep to it every nap - we call it the magic music because she just goes down without a peep with her music on (if you try another piece - she shrieks);
• Somersaults whether in the air or on the ground, backwards or forwards - she lunges forward tucking her head in to let us know she wants to do a somersault;
• Food - although she is pretty tiny, she surprised us when we started solids - she eats everything we have given her so far, cauliflower, broccoli, garlicky lentils, celery, chickpeas, red peppers, dragon fruit, sour mango... she will SHRIEK if the food is finished but she is still hungry and then wildly hit herself in the face (her version of the food sign);
• Maman - Maya is a mommy's girl. It has started changing but she still wants maman a lot...
• Music - she loves listening to music and jumps about and "dances" to the beat;
• Pictures - she likes looking at pictures of the family - especially Noah but also her grandparents and aunts and uncles;
• Sucking her thumb - it soothes her, puts her to sleep, calms her down, helps her swallow bigger pieces of food - the magic miracle thumb!;
• Her doudous (loveys in English I think), she has a rabbit and a horse that live in bed and that she likes to hold when falling asleep and a smaller rabbit attached to her stroller that she also holds when sleeping in the stroller (if these are not present though she will happily use a burp cloth);
• Balls - Maya loves throwing, kicking, holding balls of all sorts (little light plastic balls, plush balls, o-balls....);
• Playing with her brother's toys and stuff; and
• Attention - Maya's face lights up when people in the street look and smile at her.

At 8 months Maya DISLIKES:

• Not being able to walk when she wants to;
• Not being able to do something she would like to do (like figure out how a toy works or how to open something or reach a toy);
• Not having the amount of food she would like or food when she would like it;
• When we take a "toy" away from her (pieces of paper, electric wires...);
• Being in a car;
• When we don't pay enough attention to her; and
• When maman is not at least 85% focused on her.

At 8 months Maya CAN:

• Do 8 signs (wave bye bye, cat, eat, more, water, up, milk, all done);
• Possibly do an additional 2 (diaper, nodding for yes) - the jury is still out;
• Stand without holding on to anything for 5 full seconds (her record);
• Do a step or two to stable herself when standing on her own;
• Stand well holding one hand;
• Walk well holding two hands;
• Pull herself up (though she usually wants to pull herself up holding onto me) and stand holding onto furniture;
• Walk but still a bit wobbly holding one hand;
• Smoothly pass objects from one hand to another;
• Pick up little pieces of food off the table (like grains of rice) but she still has trouble putting them in her mouth as they remain in her fist while she sucks her thumb. We tried explaining that her thumb was not a straw but she is still figuring that out;
• Shriek at an ear piercing decibel level when frustrated, bored or upset with you (and she does it quite a bit these days - hopefully this phase will be over soon??);
• Play in bed alone after waking up;
• Sleep easily wherever - her stroller, her bed, our arms, the floor - when tired she just goes to sleep - no fuss - she just goes to sleep; and
• Give kisses (though she generally just puts her mouth up to your cheek and does not make the smacking noise).

Overall, Maya is a very sweet determined little girl - she knows what she wants and is generally very good at finding a way of letting us know what that is. She is also very cuddly, loves kisses and hugs and asks for "more" kisses all the time.