Lucan: 8 months

I know that I sound like a broken record, but as every month passes, I am more amazed and thankful for Lucan. I'm amazed that we've been parents for 8 months without screwing him up and I'm very thankful for the easy child Lucan is. God is good.

The two biggest changes I've noticed this month is the eruption of 2(!) teeth and his stubbornness when it comes to eating. Lucan got his front two bottom teeth in. This has led to some periodic biting issues while nursing. This also leads me to my second observation: stubbornness when it comes to eating. Lucan prefers solid foods to nursing. I think he would eat food all the live long day if I let him. Which in the long run is good, but in the meantime frustrates me. It's doing crazy things to my milk supply. Lucan will eat 8 ounces of food at lunchtime and would probably eat more 8 ounces at supper too if I let him. Instead I try and limit him to 6 or so ounces at night that way he'll nurse some too.

At 8 months old, here are some observations:

• Teething has gone pretty smoothly. More drooling than normal, but no further crankiness or temperature spikes.


• L is still in size 3 diapers.


• I'm guessing L is getting close to weighing in at 21 lbs. Not fat, but definitely not skinny.


• People who tell me that Lucan looks more like Lance than me, but then fail to articulate why or how, befuddle me. Basically, I think what they are trying to say is that Lucan doesn't look very Asian. Because Lucan has my eyes, my nose, and my fat baby cheeks. Lucan is very clearly my child.


• I've nicknamed Lucan - Lu Lu. I think that I like one syllable nick names - Fire is Fie Fi.


• One of Lucan's favorite pastimes is trying to rip off your face. Which is why I have to be diligent in keeping his nails trimmed.


• Lucan likes all the foods we've given at him. He has had squash, sweet potato, carrots, peas, avocado, pears, applesauce, bananas, rice cereal and oatmeal. We need to try green beans. But I tasted that puree and thought it tasted bad, so who knows what Lucan will think. I've been making all of our baby food so far and enjoying it. I've been thinking about starting a little side business of making fresh baby food for people. We'll see.


• Our new daycare is still going really well. Lucan gets more individualized attention and we get a daily report of his activities. There's another little girl there who Lucan likes to chatter with and giggle at. All in all, I'm happy that we made the choice to switch.


• We did have a bath time first the other day. Lucan pooped in the bathtub (and not a hard pebble poop either) and then after I rescued him from the poop water, he peed all over his nursery wall. Yay Lucan and for little boys.


• Lucan is still a good sleeper. He will usually take 3, 1-hour naps a day and then will typically sleep through the night. There were a couple of times where he woke up in the middle of the night this past month, but that's not the norm. One thing that has become the norm is finding Lucan completely sideways or at the opposite end of his crib. I'm not sure when this happens because when I go to bed at 11:30 (I know too late, that would account for the eye twitch I've had) he's exactly where I've laid him. I guess Lucan has really active dreams.


• No signs of being interested in crawling. Why would Lucan want to crawl when he can get basically anywhere by rolling? The only time rolling becomes a problem is with forward motion. Doing a three-point turn by rolling is a lot less direct than simply crawling forward.


• We're on his second month of sign language and he's not signing back. He does smile happily when we do the signs for "milk,""eat," "food," and "all done." Oh well. It's hard to know what goes on in Lucan's little baby brain.


• Lucan had his first "official" haircut last week. It went okay, he was squirmy and hot. I took him to my hair person. It will probably be the only time in my life that I pay $5 for an Aveda service! I wouldn't want to cut babies' hair full time. What a nightmare that would be.


• I read in a parenting book the other day that we should start disciplining Lucan at 9 months old. That broke my heart. I'm not ready to discipline my sweet little baby.


• Lucan really wants to be friends with Fire. It appears to be unrequited love on Lucan's part.

This was the easiest photo session to date. Lucan is starting to smile reflexively, so this shoot took maybe 3 minutes. BLESSING.

As cute as L is smiling, I think his weird faces are funnier.

Before and after shots of Lucan's haircut. Lucan was adorable in his cape.

And for the Voglers viewing pleasure: Hilton Colleseum after Iowa State's win over Kansas :)