Arden at 8 months

My sweet little Arden is 8 months old now. Here's what she's been up to lately:

Her two favorite toys in the house are this piano that Huston got from his Great-Granny and Papaw and the "Elmo's Restaurant" play kitchen that Huston got for Christmas one year. The piano is a recent discovery, and she gets practically giddy with excitement when she crawls over and starts banging the keys and singing along with her high-pitched squeals. Other than these two things, no other toy can really hold her interest for long. She'd much rather be crawling around, pulling up on things, looking for scraps of paper or crumbs on the floor to eat, trying to crawl into toilets or rummage through garbage cans, or otherwise get into mischief. She is a little explorer.

Arden is eating Gerber puffs and cheerios, along with baby food. She gets pretty mad when I feed her baby food, though, and tries to grab the spoon out of my hand with every bite I give her. This makes for some incredibly messy meal times. It's obvious she'd much rather be feeding herself, but so far she hasn't liked the bananas and avocados I've offered her. I'll have to get more creative with the food choices soon. She started formula at her 11 o'clock feeding (in preparation for me returning to teaching this fall - a post for another day) and has taken to it beautifully. I am so grateful that she has not refused the bottle or formula.

She continues to think her big brother is awesome, and no one can amuse her more than he can. By far the sweetest sound I have ever heard is the two of them playing in the back seat of the car. Huston will do something silly and she will crack up with the most adorable laugh, and then Huston will laugh and do it again. It is precious and wonderful.

Arden loves splashing in the bathtub with Huston, playing in Huston's room, roaming around and exploring, playing peek-a-boo, snuggling stuffed animals (like her stuffed lamb and the stuffed monkeys and big dog in Huston's room), and grabbing her daddy's nose so he'll make a funny sound. She hates having scraps of paper and other forbidden things taken away from her, and will sometimes throw herself backwards onto the floor with her maddest scream when you take some such thing away from her. She uses her pacifier at naptime and bedtime, but doesn't love it like Huston loved his. She still only has her two lower front teeth and she still has the beginnings of some curls in her hair. In general she is an incredibly easy going baby and not hard to keep happy - just hard to keep out of trouble. :)