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June & Eight Months… in Numbers!

Mark and I on Parliament Hill
Mark and I on Parliament Hill

Mark is turning eight months on June 12—yes, already!

Baby Mark has changed a lot lately. He has become a little baby boy with his own personality and he can now express himself very well. He is tiring… exhausting, even, but he is a happy curious baby most of the time.

Mark can now sit by himself very well. He occasionally loses his balance but it’s rare and he learned to deal with it (and we learned to place a pillow or something soft behind him!). He doesn’t really crawl the way babies in diaper commercials do, but he moves around, somehow, using various unorthodox methods. He can also stand on his legs supported.

Food-wise, Mark still mostly drinks formula, although I started giving him rice biscuits (he likes them and can feed himself), plus he often gets to taste the food when we eat out. I’m getting tired of bottle feeding but he needs it from a nutritional point of view and he is not a fan of whatever pureed food I try to give him. I’m leaning towards the “baby-led weaning” method, where kids are given small manageable pieces of food and feed themselves, rather than trying to spoon-feed him.

Mark is also showing some character and asserting himself. He throws things to get attention, holds his arms up when he wants to be picked up and can start screaming when he is not happy about something—but will stop on cue as soon as he gets what he wants, a toy, attention or a hug.

He is social in a way—he smiles back at people who comment on how cute he is (really, it’s kind of embarrassing, I never know what to say when random strangers stop to tell me he is a cute boy!) but he screams whenever anyone but Feng and I hold him. Like Feng says, at least no one will steal him from us… else we can hear him if it happens!

So, after month one, month two, month three, month four, month five, month six and month seven… here is month eight, in numbers!

Body parts discovered: For some reason, Mark suddenly discovered he had feet. Yep, a right foot, a left foot, five toes on each. I mean, nothing new here, right? Well, for Mark it is apparently a novelty and he loves grabbing his feet, sucking on his toes (I wish I was that flexible!) and taking off his socks. He also likes staring at my feet—I can get five minutes of quiet computer time if I move my toes in front of him (don’t laugh, it takes some coordination to type an email and remember to move your toes!).

Big baby milestone: One, Mark said “Mama”. For real. He often babbles, “mamama”, “dadadada”, etc., so I wasn’t sure whether he was just making sounds or actually saying something. On May 24, I changed him and left him with Feng. As I walked out of the room, he clearly called “mama” and grinned when I turned around and came back to him. Yes, I tweeted about it—I know, STFUP moment.

Favourite toys: Three. Stacking plastic rings; “bumblebee” a soft toy; and two small rubber balls he desperately tries to chase across the living room (he quickly learned it was easier to cry and wait for me to retrieve them from under the couch).

Favourite unofficial toys: Three. Starbucks carton coffee cup sleeves (buys me at least ten minutes of quiet time when he chews on it); boxes of semolina or pasta (buy me five minutes of free time to cook said semolina or pasta); my hair (especially the long strand at the front—pulling it is so much fun!).

Favourite activities: Banging toys on the floor, smiling at people when he is in the cart and I’m grocery shopping, being tickled, being hugged, chasing toys across the room.

Trip taken: One overnight trip to Montreal! And it was great—hopefully, Mark will be a good traveller.

Night without mom or dad: Just one, when we escaped to Toronto to see The Rolling Stones concert. Mark didn’t seem too traumatized (staying with the grand-parents, he gets to improve his Mandarin!).

Educational trips taken: Several. We went to the National Art Gallery, to the Museum of Civilization and to the Experimental Farm.

I’m looking forward to the next few months… should be fun!

Mark, 8 Months
Mark, 8 Months
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Zhu

French woman in English Canada.

Exploring the world with my camera since 1999, translating sentences for a living, writing stories that may or may not get attention.

Firm believer that nobody is normal... and it’s better this way.

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