Letter to Becca: Eight Months

Wow kiddo, I'm really behind on writing monthly letters to you--my last one was at five months! This is probably one-part exhaustion and one-part denial that you're actually eight months old already. It still feels like you should be a newborn, even though the truth of the matter is that you're rapidly approaching toddler stage instead.
At this point, you're about two weeks away from the nine month mark, and just in the last few days, you've really been busy. Over the past weekend, you had two teeth pop through (bringing the total to three), you have been going crazy with "talking", and you took your first few steps, for a popsicle (of course). I thought that Lizzy walked super early, but here you are, trumping her by about a month. Terrifying. But I'm also actually looking forward to the walking, because for a little while at least, it will slow you down! You crawl like a spider monkey, and are SUPER fast. You've also started figuring out how to climb things (including stairs), which accounts for the bruise near your eye in this month's photos.
Lately, you've been either FULL of smiles, or a whining and crying mess. You typically want to be held (by me, only) for most of the day. We've all started calling you a koala because you just cling to my side all the time. You LOVE your big sister so much, and still just light up whenever she walks into the room. Lizzy is a very strong personality, and I was worried for awhile that she'd always dominate the room and leave you in the shadows...but the more I watch, the more I see that you'll be just fine. You already don't hesitate to scream at her if she does something that you don't like (such as picking you up), and sometimes I even watch you get this glimmer in your eye and then reach out and pull her hair. Needless to say, gentle is a big theme this month. Dare I say it, but sleep is also *finally* improving a little bit this month, which is a huge relief. For the most part, you've been napping once per day, though I'm still working on getting you into the crib instead of in my arms. And you've only been waking up once a night! And now I need to go find some wood to knock on. Sweet girl, we love you so much and we can't wait to see what the next month holds!
Love Forever and For Always,
Mom