thom is 8 months

it's been a while.  thom is growing up so fast and i'm trying my best to document it.  so yeah, i've been meaning to update but here's what has happened since i've last posted:

thom got a wagon.  actually, he got it for christmas but it's just taken us a while to actually get it here and assembled.  he loves this wagon.  he loves going on rides and looking around the neighborhood.  i think he especially likes a little bit of turbulence.

 thom likes to play with sticks.

thom = harry potter

thom looooooves his binkies.  can you spot both of them in this picture?

thom got his first haircut.  i didn't take real before and after pictures, so use the above for a before and this for an after.  he was so squirmy and uncooperative (surprise, surprise...) so it looks like a bit of a hack job.  but still, i think it's better than his goofy baby comb-over.  i sucked up my love of his long baby hair and did it.

eating a post-haircut apple

thom now crawls slowly, scoots quickly, and practices yoga.

doing down-dog.

and in case that wasn't enough thom-goodness for you,  here's some more of what he's been up to:

learning to "play drums."

chasing radishes.  i mean... learning how to perfect his pincher grasp.

doing a little bit of singing

and a bit of giggling, too.

ok now we're mostly updated, i think.  thom is growing like a weed.  some days he's really fun.  some days he's really fussy.  he has been sick this past week with his first cold.  it's been a little bit miserable for all of us.  no sleep and lots of whining... boo...  plus, i'm convinced he is teething.  though i have said that before and he's still all gums.  oh well, we'll see.  

teething and scooting

thom has started teething.  i knew it must be teething because thom rarely fusses.  he's normally so calm and agreeable.  but sunday night he started fussing and rubbing his mouth.  and yesterday he was doing it again.  alllll day. poor guy.

sunday night i felt so bad for the little guy and i didn't really know what to do.  i thought i'd remembered reading something about putting peppermint oil on baby gums to help numb them and take away the pain.  i thought, "oh excellent!  i've got peppermint essential oil - i'll try that!"  he was crying and crying and i just wanted to help him feel better...  so i put a little bit of oil on my finger and rubbed it on his gums.

his reaction: his eyes got really big.  he took a sharp inhale and held it.  and then he started crying.  screaming.  

oh my gosh... what have i done?  i am the worst mother ever.  what do i do?  ack i don't know!  

i wish i could say that i had a magical cure and he stopped crying and looked up lovingly at me and said, "it's ok mom."  but really what happened is that he cried for several minutes, then finally took his binkie and calmed down.  in hindsight, it seems like i probably read, "peppermint extract" and not peppermint oil.  so i've decided to never again try something on thom that i haven't tried myself.*

as far as good news goes... thom started scooting over christmas break at the grandparents' house and he's gotten faster and stronger ever since.  sometimes i can convince him to scoot to get toys.

he also makes funny chomping motions with his mouth (though this is not as new of a trick)

ok, i wish i could upload more videos but blogger sucks.  so happy weekend!

*granted, i had tried the peppermint oil and i knew it was strong, but i didn't realize that it would be too strong for a baby's gums....whoops.