7 Months

Hey buddy. We're on the back half of year one now. This is serious.

Seriously cute? Go on.

Overall, eating is sort of weird but nobody here is starving to death. You are basically too excited about the world to focus on nursing during the day. You have to be a) really hungry, b) sort of sleepy, c) in the quiet nursery, or d) all of the above to be able to focus enough to get any semblance of nutrition. Apparently this is normal and you still do fine at bedtime and in the early morning so I'm not worried.

Solid food is still just kind of an exploration. I think that most of the time you think we are trying to poison you...you just look at me like "Mom, I know how to eat. Why are you trying to switch it up on me?" I am taking the pediatrician at her word and trying not to worry that very little of it actually seems to get in your stomach at this point. We are aiming for 1-2 "human food" sessions per day at this point and will obviously work up from here. You generally seem ok with the high chair and will also sit in one for a while at restaurants and make short work of some Baby Mum Mums. You don't particularly enjoy being spoonfed by somebody else, so the messy foods are better for home because you're all do-it-myself. I think your method right now is to get everything all over your hands and face and then suck your thumb. Sometimes you dip the wrong end of the spoon and lick that (though we call it the "alternative" end because who am I to judge...spoons are a social construction or something). Whatever works.



In the sleep department, naps are going marginally better. We still get the occasional Bad Nap, but you seem to be more or less back on track. You're regularly going about 2-2.25 hours between naps (unless the interval is shortened after a Bad Nap). Most of the time you still take three naps a day, but the last one is very short and sometimes is dropped all together. Sometimes we have a flashback to the early days and you insist on being held while sleeping. Woe to those who attempt to put the baby in the crib. This is not great, and probably does not help form consistent habits and all that, but it's not hugely ruinous and I am acutely aware that littles are not little for long. But--as daddy and I both found out the hard way this week--grownups should try not to get caught in these situations without iPhone handy for entertainment/productivity purposes. Or be prepared to do the Aunt Miller and also konk out in the comfy chair.

Nighttime has been slowly getting better but is still not consistent. I think it has been really helpful to make sure you get lots and lots of floor time during the day, so you can practice the scooting and crawling and rolling and sitting and general butt-in-the-air business during your waking hours and not while you are supposed to be sleeping. Most nights there is still 1 extra wakeup some time before the 5-6am feeding, but some nights you also go straight through again. Seven STRAIGHT hours of sleep for me? Glorious. This seems to happen on nights you have stayed up later, but that makes me feel guilty, so I don't know what it all means.

Likes:

• Dada
• Dogs (the feeling is no longer mutual)
• the cd from music class, especially the song where the bumblebees buzzzzzz. You know that was Deeds's jam, I think. See also:
• SPOON
• Peekaboo
• So Big!
• Tickles
• Books (of course I think you are brilliant but really they are just your favorite thing to eat at present)
• the inflatable duck
• the fishy cup that came with Whale Tub (like...obsession to the point that I usually just hide the cup)
• SPLASHING EVERYWHERE
• the mirror. There's a handsome baby in there!
• your thumb. Left hand only, please. 

Ok, what? Hold the sign?

Am I doing it right?

Dislikes:

• going in the car seat (infant carrier)
• I must say bathtime has been a little rocky since outgrowing the baby tub and trying to find a new solution
• sometimes a little separation fuss but you rebound ok

Milestones:

• babbles (mostly dadadadada all the dadadamn day). Also, since your favorite things are Dada, dogs, and ducks, gives the appearance of saying real words many times a day. I have to remind myself that this is probably not the case, no matter how smart you are
• might actually sign "dog"
• sits unassisted
• rocks on all fours

• army crawls
• in the process of moving to the big kid car seat

Stats:

• diapers: size 3 but will move up as soon as we've used up our current stash. In 4s for the overnight diapers
• 6-9 month clothing 
• don't know weight...will work on this