And she's off...

...in more ways than one!  Naomi hit the 8 month mark yesterday, and she's developing so quickly.  Her first tooth popped into sight last week, and both sets of grandparents got an excited phone call.  (Actually, that's a blatant lie.  The tooth didn't "pop" at all; it took an excruciating amount of time, pain, and fussiness!)  Every once in awhile I'll let Naomi chomp on my finger to keep her entertained, and now my finger comes out with a sharp little indention and a cry of pain on my part.

Naomi has also learned to crawl!  I was not prepared for how quickly this would happen.  For weeks she would get on her hands and knees and rock back and forth, but nothing more.  Then for 2-3 days she would scoot her knees up but couldn't figure out how to keep her balance while moving her hands.  (This was a funny stage, because she would plop down on her chest, gaining about 3 inches, and then repeat the process time after time.  When she kept at it, she actually covered some ground this way.)  The next 2-3 days she could move forward but it was a very interrupted crawl, with her sitting up every
few seconds, sometimes
toppling over on her head, sometimes getting up on her hands and feet like she was going to play leapfrog, etc.  And now, less than a week after she started moving, she's zipping around.  When she has an object in her sights, watch out or be plowed over!  We took some short video clips of her crawling and put them on youtube.com .  
If you are interested in the link, let me know.

Naomi is a good little helper.  After eating, when she sees the washcloth, she holds out her hands to get washed off. 
When it's time to get in the carseat, she sits back and waits for the seatbelt to be put on, and when you take it off, she lunges forward and looks up, waiting for us to get her out of the seat.  She helps me carry things from room to room, also, although whatever we're carrying tends to get a little slobbery in transit.  And the manipulative little babe knows when to flash huge smiles to get us to let her do things she's not supposed to be doing (like being up late at night).  
 
All in all, we love her and we're having a great time!  More pictures coming soon...