8 month update and other randoms

I know, I know..I say it everytime..but I can't believe how fast my little man is growing! 8 months..Wow! I feel like by 8 months I should have this parenting thing down..but I still feel like a newbie so much of the time. Actually, I still am in awe that I am a mommy at all and wonder if that feeling will ever go away.
A couple of stats on Wyatt are:
-We haven't been to the doctor yet for his 8 month checkup... so these stats are coming from our Ikea scale and a measuring tape from the garage. So the odds of the numbers being correct are close to nil. That being said..Wyatt is 22 lbs and 28-3/4 inches which puts him in the 75th-90th percentile for height and weight. Random people are always saying that he is "muy alto", but I don't see it yet.
- Wyatt went from army crawling a month ago, to "normal" crawling...today! Yea. I realize that babies have different milestones and do things on their own time, but I will admit that I was having visions of an army crawling toddler in my head. Maybe Wyatt feels more ambitious to try new things without clothes on. I would have inserted a picture here of his new feat..but when you have a naked baby boy crawling, sometimes it's hard to get a modest action pic.
- Is wanting to pull up on things. He can pull up on the couch if he sits in my lap...isn't at the point yet where he can do it all by himself.
-Instead of banging on his toys, he prefers to cautiously point and turn things very seriously with his index finger.
- Loves being outside, but when it's cold weather and he has a cold...we hibernate inside. It's so sad to see him catch a glimpse of the outside when I let the dogs in or out and as soon as I close the door, he starts bawling...! Poor guy.

-Loves to turn the pages of his board books. We read the same 10 books every morning since books in English are hard to find down here.

- He thinks that his puppies are the most hilarious things he has ever seen. Every morning when we walk up the stairs, he just starts giggling when he sees Major and Molly. They have started dropping their toys in front of him, hoping that he'll pick up the ball and throw it back at them. Too cute!
- 3 teeth are coming in on the top..which makes for one fussy little baby on some days. He also has started grinding his lower teeth to his top two....! The sound has the same effect as nails on a chalkboard. Nice!

Random side notes of being an expat mom in Santiago...(I may devote an entire post to this later..but here are just a few that are on my mind...)
1. I am a devotee to Starbucks down here, but have found that it's easier to give an alias when they ask for my name b/c Kipley is just too difficult. So some days I am Maria..others I am Catalina.. When they ask "Como se llama?" in regards to Wyatt, everyone is totally confused about his name..even when I explain that it's common in the US. Several people thought I named him Quiet...or White.

2. Wyatt seems to eat better when he is watching TV (I know, probably starting some bad habit)..so I usually put it on Disney or Discovery Kids. I can't understand a word that Donald Duck says in Spanish...and I can get every other word that Mickey says. It's definitely humbling to realize that your Spanish is probably much worse than the average 3 year old!

7 month update

I can't believe my little man is already 7 months! He seems to have grown more this past week than ever before. He weighs 19.4 lbs (55th percentile) and is 28.3 inches long (75th percentile). A couple of new things he has been doing lately are:
- army crawling...At the moment, he does it only when he really wants something. After a point though, he gets frustrated and doesn't want to make the effort.
- he started saying ma-ma and ba-ba. I love hearing him say ma-ma so much and can't wait till he starts saying it when he is referring to me.
- he is teething again which means quite a few fussy moments during the day (and night!). He sucks on his thumb, wrist, anything that he can get into his mouth.
- his naps are getting pretty nonexistent...(unfortunately for me!!)...they are averaging 30 minutes and he may get 2 a day. The good part of that though is at 7:30pm, he is wanting to go to bed and sleeps hard till the next morning. I love that he wakes up and is content to play in his crib by himself until 8:30 or so...Nice! I know karma is going to get me with the second one.

Wyatt had a playdate with two of his other friends: Cleo and Daniel. Daniel is 4 days younger than Wyatt. It cracks me up because Wyatt usually doesn't care when toys are taken away from him, but he is slightly distressed to see the other kids having so much fun with HIS toys...and he is trying to take them back.

What a handsome little guy! This pic does not make him look like a 7 month old..he seems like a toddler already!
There are some hills behind our house where there are some horse stables. I'm always finding the horses in the oddest places...on the playground, crossing the street, etc. I took some pics of the gorgeous fall colors in the neighborhood. It's great to have four definite seasons..but the flip side of fall/winter is the smog. You can see the haziness in this pic. I mean, you can barely see the mountain in the background..(!)Thankfully we'll be in the States for part of the winter.
We got Wyatt a little riding truck for us to push him around in. I love how he puts his feet up when he's in it and just takes it easy. By the way, that is correct...you do see a baby doll in the "trunk" of the car. Surprisingly, the doll came with the car...already inside the trunk. I don't know what to make of that.