Otso's 8th Month

Summary

Otso is moving around now, and is still a happy, sweet kid. 

Events
20.5 dinner at the neighbors'
22.5 first Tippy Toes playgroup
28.5 Gausel Farm with a bunch of other parents and kids
1.6 barbeque at Gemma's house
6.6 visit to Trollskogen ("troll forest")
8.6 "creep" across the floor
9.6 grandma arrived!
11.6 hike up Dalsnuten
12.6 first tooth

13.6 second tooth

14.6 Vaulen beach

15.6 Fjord cruise

17.6 dinner with inger

18.6 grandma left

Play / Development
On 22.5, it was clear that he can rotate himself around if he is on his belly, and he does it deliberately, in search of toys. He can also push himself backward with his hands, though it doesn't seem deliberate.
On 27.5 we saw that he can sit comfortably by himself for a few minutes without support.
On 8.6 we saw him move himself deliberately forward across the floor (in pursuit of a cardboard box!). he isn't fast, and it's more "commando" style: dragging himself by his arms, while kicking joyfully.

Toys/Games
He likes to investigate most new things. Lumi is starting to see how this might get really annoying for her.
He isn't so into crinkly toys anymore.
He pulls hair.
Toys he likes: Sophie Giraffe, duplo legos, kitchen utensils (spatula, wooden spoons)

On 23.5 he played in a jumperoo toy and discovered how to bounce himself. He loved it.

Eating
20.5 first time with prune puree and he happily ate it
21.5 first time with yogurt
23.5 i made my first homemade baby food: chicken breast, sweet potato, apple, onion. he likes it.
26.5 first time with another homemade purée: banana and blueberry (with a resulting enormous poo the following morning)
1.6 first pouch food: chicken and rice

We let him taste watermelon and he loves it. Unfortunately he doesn't know how to chew yet. So we tried the mesh feeder on 6.6. Success! Also great with chunks of banana. And pears.

On 8.6 he was playing with a cup in the bath and he started scooping up water and drinking it.

On 26.5 I found something gold and shiny in his poo diaper. I separated it and rinsed it a little and thought the pattern looked familiar. And then I found the Golden Book that he was playing with yesterday on the floor, and noticed that part of the binding is missing. Oops. On the plus side, we have a good estimate of Otso's GI tract time: about 15 hours.

Sleeping
Bedtime is 18:30. We do a bath, then pajamas, then nursing, then crib.

Health
On 20.5 we went to the doctor again about his little skin problem on his belly. It isn't worse, but it isn't better and I would like to see a specialist. The way it works in Norway is that you have to go through your own doctor to get to a specialist. So we went back and talked to our regular doctor and he prescribed topical cortisone for 2 weeks to see if it's the anti-inflammatory will help. He said that after 2 weeks if it isn't better then we will look at a dermatologist.
And I learned in the last couple of weeks that we don't pay for children's health care (except in taxes, of course): doctor and dentist are free until age 18, and even kids prescriptions are free.
7.6 first sunburn. :( we were outside for a long time and his arms got red.

After 2 weeks, the skin problem looks better but not healed. Smaller. Less red. Also the cortisone seems to be really drying out his skin on that side of the belly. I stopped putting it on and am just moisturizing with coconut oil.

Stats
Clothes: a snug size 80 (12 month) in a onesie (bodysuit). His pants are also an 80, but they tend to be a bit long.
On 10.6 he weighed in at 9.11 kg.
Teeth: 2 (right lower central incisor eruption on 12.6, left lower central incisor eruption on 13.6)

Random
When Kimmo called to make the doctor appointment, the receptionist informed him that they didn't have Otso's name (just like in Finland, families often don't reveal the name until the kid is several months old so it's perfectly normal to only list a baby's social security number or even just the mother's name and the birth date). Kimmo was spelling "Vuori" for them and said "V as in victor", and then it turned out that they entered his name as Viktor Vuori. This was already propagated forward to the pharmacy (because in Norway when you get a prescription it is automatically sent to every pharmacy in the county, which is nice because there is no paper you have to tote around and no mystery about the amount or directions).