Dear Edie,

You are 8 months old today. We are just digging ourselves out from the trenches of your first real cold this week so my letter may be a little shorter than usual, my apologies. I thought you had a cold last month, but I now realize that last month's "illness" was in fact just a runny nose symptomatic of your bottom two teeth coming in. This, my girl is a cold. It started last week with a wet cough and has continued well into this week with nose bubbles and massive sleep disruption. Your Dad and I have fallen prey as well so the whole family is simultaneously stuffed up and dripping. It's been so hard to watch you feel crummy, but I suppose we should feel lucky that we made it 8 months.

In more upbeat news, you started crawling this month! It was so exciting. Maybe one of the most exciting moments we've had together and I was so happy to be there to witness it. In the short two weeks since you wobbled around on all fours at Darrah's house for the first time, you can now plow from one end of the room to the other, pausing if you wish to twist into a sit for a few minutes and play with a toy, then twisting right back to a crawl pose. This sitting skill is posing new challenges when it comes to bedtime. We put you down in your crib, but when I peek at you through the door crack I can see you pulling yourself up to sit and cry for us to return.

You are most definitely a fearless baby. You try to climb the walls while in your Johnny Jump Up and you RUN from room to room in your walker, stopping for no one and no thing. The other day I watched you pull your high chair over on to the floor, then appreciate your work and immediately pull the kitchen chair over in the same manner. I turn around for a second in your room and you've crawled to the far corner and are under your crib trying to grab a cord you see sparkling against the far wall. I know for a fact that we will be chasing you around the house the second you learn to run because I have a scary feeling that you will skip walking and shift right into running. We've also had to move the art hanging over the changing table because you tried to pull it all off to nibble on one too many times. I was singled out in my moms group last month so that Ann could suggest that we purchase a "crib tent" - a mesh devise that zips up around your crib so that you can't climb out. Apparently your adventurous spirit is obvious to outsiders as well.

You are becoming more verbal than usual this week, making shouting -like noises that are very intentional (and funny). It sounds almost like you are singing but there is also a conversational element to the noises because if I do it back you look charmed and then "talk" right back to me. You also seem to have entered what we call the "pots and pans phase". Where you used to just pick up a toy and wave it around (or eat it), you now like to hold two items and bang them together, relishing in the racket they make.

We brought you to Orcas last week. We hadn't been to the island since Thanksgiving over 5 months ago and this trip was definitely more exciting for you. You LOVED the beach. Dad plopped you down on the beach our first night there (it was exceptionally warm and windless) and you spent forever just picking up handfuls of gravel and letting it fall back to the beach. Dad also let you feel the waterfall at the end of the beach, and he even dipped your toes in the wet sand while the tide came in.

Just before your cold hit, you were finally taking an interest in eating solid foods. You've now tried many tastes of my various soups when we're out and about - avgolemono, tortilla, chicken noodle, and mexican bean, and you've also enjoyed pureed butternut squash, applesauce, pears, carrots, oatmeal,Greek yogurt, and a few other assorted flavors. We'll probably start back up with foods this weekend now that you're on the mend with this cold; hopefully you'll pick back up where you left off.

You continue to be a source of endless entertainment for your Dad and me. You are sassy, filled with wonder, quirky, energetic and extremely affectionate.
Smell you later Shorts,

Mom