8 months old!

Dexter is 8 months old as of yesterday. To celebrate, he finally figured out how to crawl forward. This trick had him flummoxed for over a month, so it was pretty exciting to see it happen. Before he mastered forward motion, he would push himself around backwards on his belly. If I left him for a few minutes, invariably I'd return to find him stuck under the couch or Henry's train table (don't worry, it's not as bad as it sounds. His head wouldn't end up under the furniture, and he was only stuck in the sense that he couldn't figure out how to get himself out of the predicament). Dexter has also become adept at getting himself from a sitting position onto his belly, so he's all ready to start moving around like a little demon.

He's also getting more interested in eating solid food. It just took a bit of experimenting to find out what he likes. He prefers stuff he can grasp himself and crunch, so toast and Cheerios are popular. I discovered this when Henry gave Dexter a pizza crust when I wasn't looking, and he immediately started gumming away (that's what he's eating in the picture). It's pretty funny to watch him munch on toast with his two little teeth. I also discovered a line of organic, gourmet baby food that comes in little frozen cubes rather than jars. It's pretty good--I can even stand to eat a spoonful of it, while the jarred food makes me gag. Of course it's relatively expensive compared to jarred food, but we're not talking big bucks here. And he'll eat it, so it's money well spent. Round out all that with some fruit purees and fruit-flavored baby cereal, and he's eating pretty well.