Our little Anselm turned eight months on Friday. To demonstrate how poorly I am keeping up with how ridiculously fast time is flying, I initially typed “seven months” as the title of this post.

Eight months? How can that be?

He is right where his brothers were, pretty much, at this age. No teeth, no mobility, no chance of him being on his belly without fussing now that he’s sitting up steadily. He is more like Clive in that he doesn’t babble much (Ephraim babbled incessantly) and more like Ephraim in his eating (he enjoys quite a number of things, unlike Clive, who liked NOTHING.) Stand Up, Sit Down is a favorite game*, and he likes being in the walker, though it frustrates him that he pushes himself into corners that he can’t escape.

He’s started sort-of-waving and clapping this month, really enjoying doing it himself, but pausing and looking at you weird if you do it back to him, as if you’ve somehow encroached on the coolness of it.

He’s already an elitist.

He greets nearly everything interesting with his gummy grin and chipmunk laugh. If he finds you especially amusing, he’ll suck his breath in to make this odd, low squeal. (I can’t think of how else to describe it.) Belly laughs are almost exclusively reserved for Ephraim, who has nearly become Favorite Family Member, save Mama, I think, but only because I feed him. He erupts in a flurry of squeals and flailing when Daddy comes home, presently finds Clive more than tolerable, but doesn’t particularly care for the Cat, much to her chagrin.

He and Ephraim still share a very special relationship, but Clive has really entered the picture more in the past month; he’s taken a new interest in his Baby Brother, and is generally concerned with his entertainment. He’s found that saying “Oooohhh, WIGGY!” gets quite a good chipmunk chuckle out of Anselm. I’m not sure where that came from, but who can profess to know the mind of a toddler? I’m just glad there’s no more eye-poking attempts going on.

For comparison, here’s Clive’s eight month post, and Ephraim’s eight month post.

*To play Stand Up, Sit Down, hold the hands of whatever grown-up is willing to play. Use their hands as leverage to pull yourself up while they say “staaaaaaand up!” Once you are standing, sit down purposefully and forcefully as they yell, “sit down!” Then giggle and repeat.