On Monday Wes became a hulking eight-month-old.

By “hulking,” I mean that Wes:

1. Has grown out of size 1 diapers and is into size 2.
2. Has grown out of nearly all his 0-3 month clothes and is filling out his 3-month clothes, and I think he’ll be working his way into 3-6 month clothes over the course of the early summer months.
3. Is a champion sitter-upper.

He loves sitting up. He can’t get there on his own yet, but if we set him up he can hold his balance well (although he still falls over, and frequently backwards, hence the pillows in the photo).

His therapist visited yesterday and was impressed by how well he sits up. The last time she came (three weeks ago) he was just starting to sit up with propping (his hands in front of him to hold him upright). Now he’s a sitting-up machine. The next thing we’re going to work on with him is setting toys on either side of him so he’ll rotate and reach while sitting. This will strengthen his torso muscles and get him ready to learn how to exit sitting and and lead into crawling. The average baby with Down syndrome sits up around 11 months (for regular kids the average is 6-8 months), so we feel like Wes is doing great.

I take him to lap time at the library every Monday. He may miss the finer teaching moments of baby sign language and ignore the teacher when she’s reading a book out loud, but his attention is gripped by the other babies and he looks around nonstop. He seems to enjoy having so many moving things to look at. That’s why I also sometimes take him outside to sit on our porch and watch the cars drive by.

He’s more interested in things now. Before, he’d like to look at things like his toys and mirrors and people, but now he’s reaching out to touch all those things. Like when we’re walking by a toy in his room he’ll reach out his arms and throw his whole body toward it so he can touch it and play with it. He’s surprisingly opinionated, especially when he’s tired, and when he wants to look at something you’d better have a good grip on his body so it doesn’t fly out of your arms as he reaches out to touch something.

He also has favorite rooms in the house. It surprises me that babies know and remember where things are. He knows which doorways lead to the bathrooms (where the mirrors are), and if you’re holding him while walking past one such doorway, be prepared for him to fling himself in that direction. He loves looking at himself and whoever is holding him in the mirror. He especially likes to stand in front of the mirror and have you help him walk toward his reflection. He is all smiles.

We keep checking, but no sign of chompers coming in yet.