Marley at 8 Months Old

Our sweet girl is eight months old today. It's so crazy to think that she is that old already! When she was put into our arms she seemed so small. She was six months old at the time, but seemed more like a 4 month old. She has made so many milestones and so much progress that she is more and more like an eight month old everyday. She amazes us! The bonding is going superb! Marley does not like it when we leave the room and loves to be in our arms all the time. She will go to others, although we still are refraining from passing her around, but looks to us for reassurance and will reach for us. She has started holding back her smiles and laughs for us, which is a really good thing.
At 8 Months Marley:

• CAN SIT UP!
• Says Mama and uses it to call me
• Shakes her head no and knows it's meaning (she shakes no when she doesn't like something...lol)
  
• Is starting to prefer baby food, my food of course
  
• Is now starting to wear 6-9 month old clothing (she was in 0-3 months just 6 weeks ago!)
• Is reaching for us
• Gives kisses

I am so proud of her growth. She was a little one. At 2 months old, she weighed just 6 pounds. According to the Ethiopian growth charts, she wasn't that little, but still small. She's catching up, very quickly. At 8 months, she now weighs almost 15.2 lbs. While she's not as large as most American 8 month olds, she's doing very very well. I have to reassure myself. While I know she's doing great, I am a little frustrated when strangers approach me and ask her age, only to then reply with a "wow, she's so small," as to sound concerned. I know, I'm probably overreacting. In fact, I know I am. I have to get it out. I've been thinking about it for a few days and have come to realize the reason it bothers me so much is because when a stranger approaches me to ask about my sweet girl, whom I think is perfect just the way she is, and comments on how small she is, it makes me feel that in their eyes she's not the right size for them. Seriously...how do you respond to something like that? Please, any advice would be greatly appreciated. This is totally not for our friends and family, it's one thing to say, "Oh, she's so cute and tiny," and another to say, "Oh my! She's so small" in a concerned way. Okay off of my soap box.
Miles got his cast on yesterday. They ended up doing a full arm cast. He was very excited to get a glow in the dark cast. He is running around and jumping off things as if his arm were never broken. It's making me crazy. I know the cast is there to protect him, but geez! What a boy!