Lil' Trickster: Sam is 8 months old!

Happy 8 month birthday Sam!! This kid. Wow. He continues to shock us with his physical development. He's got a mouth full of teeth but, more importantly, he can MOVE. Everywhere and anywhere. He skipped the military crawl and went straight to crawling. And now is pulling up to stand every chance he gets and is cruising around our coffee table like it's nothing. He wants to walk so bad.

To me he just seems huge. I think he's much bigger than Jack at this age (see his 8 month photos here). Sam's just got way chubbier and stronger legs. I'm curious to see at his doctor's appointment how much he weighs and how tall he is.

Sam continues to be one smiley social little guy. When he's at home alone with me he is bored and grumpy and wants to GO. When we are at a giant playgroup or a party, he's in heaven. He loves seeing other kids. Jack started back at preschool summer camp and I was scared to death Sam would be miserable on those days so we started music class. Same class that I took with Jack. He's a little young but, not surprisingly, he loved it. Loved the music, loved all the kids. Loved crawling around the whole room. I can not tell you what a different experience it was that when I was with Jack. Crazy.

At 8 months Sam is still not a good sleeper. He wakes up 2-3 times a night and then is up for good (but tired) at 5:30am. John and I just don't have the heart to cut out all the night feedings and let him cry but we probably should since I know he doesn't really need the bottles. The poor little guy has no schedule during the day because I'm dragging him to Jack's preschool or play dates or whatever. So he gets 20 minute car naps here and there. But, through it all, he smiles and is ready for action.

Oh, and guess what else he did recently? He has started to say "Mama". At first I didn't believe it but he is definitely making "ma ma" sounds. Then I thought that it couldn't actually be referring to me but one morning he was standing in his crib yelling "mama" and I'm pretty sure he was telling me to get my butt in there. So I guess it's true. Crazy since Jack didn't say "mama" really until he was about 15 months.

We don't want to constantly compare the two boys but it sure is hard not to. As always, Sam absolutely adores Jack and wants to keep up with him so bad.

Jack has just started to get slightly frustrated at him now that he can actually move and take his stuff. The other day he was reaching for one of Jack's legos and when Jack freaked out I reminded him that Sam was "just a baby" and that he would have to share one of his blocks. About 30 minutes later Sam had gotten into our cable TV box and wiring and I said "Sam, don't do that!" and Jack immediately lectured to me "Mommy, he's only a baby!"