A letter to Ada

Little dove! You are eight months young today! Again, you're with your dad because I'm at school, but I know you're having a wonderful time. At eight months you have six teeth. Before we had you I thought that teething would be a horrendous ordeal but these six litre chompers haven't been that bad (I'm sure your molars will be a different story entirely). We've only had one or two mid morning wake ups where it seems all you want me to do is hold you but only if I'm the most uncomfortable ever. No lying on the couch at four am. No, I have to sit on your bedroom floor, with my back resting against the wardrobe cupboards. You seem to sense of I've even put a cushion behind me. All in all we've handled it pretty well.

You are *this close* to crawling. You can worm across the floor, but haven't quite worked out that getting on your knees is much easier. Either which was (I suspect) you hate it and get really frustrated when you can't get close to me. I don't know how long to let you get upset and figure it out for yourself or just help you. (Typical answer - not very long)

So you don't like crawling/worming but you love standing. And this week, if your dad or I are holding your hands, you love walking too. You can pull yourself up using the coffee table as leverage and hold onto it with one hand, and it gives you so much delight. Your balance isn't quite there yet and you do sometimes fall over and give yourself a bump. But a little kiss and a cuddle and you're standing yourself up again and it's soon forgotten.

You're a really funny baby and love smiling at strangers on the bus, who in turn smile back at you. You think the funniest thing is when I or your dad make silly noises at you (the pig snort is a particular favourite) or when we dance really badly (I mean really, really, badly).  I know it's a bit of a cliche but there is no sweeter sounds than your laughter, so we will do whatever we can to make it happen.

Your favourite food is porridge with banana. You get quite demanding in the morning which is quite funny. You'll bang your hands on your highchair if I'm too slow giving you your next mouthful. But really, you love all food - especially if I'm eating it.