Seven months

Seven months old! I wish I had nothing but good things to say this month, but it occurs to me all the time these days that we are on the downward slope of your first year, closer to your birthday than we are to your birth day; why do I see that as such a bad thing? Just a couple of days ago your dad and I were setting up our new sectional sofa in the family room, the one we got to replace the loveseat that moved into the den, the den that we eliminated our dining room for so that you would be happy; and I was saying to Chad how I can’t wait until you’re big enough that you’ll be doing belly flops onto that sofa, and we’ll be cuddled up there watching Disney movies together, or maybe playing a game of Scrabble or Monopoly around the coffee table. And then I had to stop myself and think, do I really wish you would grow up that fast, or do I really wish you would slow down? And I just don’t know. I’m the kind of person who almost always skips to the last few pages of a book to see how things will end before I finish reading the rest of it. It’s been a real lesson to me to wait and watch your life unfold one day at a time, without knowing what the outcome of it will be, and to really try to enjoy the here and now.

This month I have seriously started to look into our daycare options, even though most of the people I’m calling are still saying it’s too soon. It’s hard to think that you will be with someone else during the day and not with me, and I want to find the best possible place for you to go. We left you in the nursery at church for the first time this month, inside the same building as me, but I still found it so hard. It wasn’t all that long ago that I pooh-poohed the bleeding hearts who couldn’t bear to be separated from their little ones, and look at me now. I’m the weepiest one on the block, the bleedingest bleeding heart of all.

Although the number seven (as in months) isn’t a standout number, and you didn’t hit any huge milestones this month, I have noticed several changes in you over these last few weeks. Number one – you’re sleeping through the night again! Bundled up into a sleep sack, you are once again on a schedule. I don’t think the sleep sack was the answer in itself, because it isn’t foolproof that you’ll sleep well when wearing it – but with the colder weather it’s definitely keeping you toasty warm, which can only help. We also got a space heater for your room (despite the fact that the prior owners added insulation to it, it’s still chilly) so we are ready for the onslaught of winter.

Your sitting up has really improved lately. We’ve noticed that you are getting good at leaning over to grab something and then pulling yourself back up rather than doing a face plant. This means much less work for us in retrieving toys that you have flung around. In your high chair now, you aren’t propped against the back seat but rather you perch at the front, banging on the tray and demanding that the next course be brought out immediately! Because you’ve demonstrated that you can handle it, we no longer get the shopping cart with the infant seat – that is just for babies – you get to ride in the shopping cart itself now, like a big boy. (Insert sob here.)

Your shyness also seems to be subsiding a little. We went to visit your great-grandma Robinson this month, and I really noticed it then. Normally you would be totally suspicious of someone you had never met before, but you were – dare I say – friendly to her. That friendliness carried over when we visited with other friends later in the month. Even going to playgroup and the swimming pool – you are becoming more interactive with the other kids, rather than just being an observer. You still won’t smile on demand when a person on the street demands it though, and while sometimes I wish you’d show off your cute little grin, I also think, good for you! – I like that you have a bit of assertiveness and independence in you. (Watch that come back and haunt me ten or fifteen years down the road…)

You had your first big ‘kid’ event this month, the Cowans’ Halloween party. Forty-four kids! I thought you would freak right out, with the number of people, and the noise, and the costumes – but you were fine. Mr. Observation was out in full force. We enjoyed celebrating Halloween with you, too. You looked so adorable in your monkey costume, and we got as much wear out of it as possible (even wearing it out shopping on Halloween day). It was fun to carve pumpkins with you and decorate the front porch and really get into things this year, all the while thinking how the next few years will be that much more fun once you understand what it’s all about.

You continued with solids this month, expanding the range of foods you eat, and have now tried pretty much every fruit and vegetable on the baby food market (the pure ones at least, not the baby food ‘dinners’ or ‘desserts’). You still hate carrots, even the ones I made for you, but you eat most everything else we’ve tried quite happily. You are down to nursing just four times per day, in the morning, before bed, and twice during the day. You still don’t have any teeth, but the last two or three days you have been really fussy and even developed a bright red rash on your cheeks for no apparent reason, which has caused us to once again declare that you must be teething! One of these days we'll be right...


You look like you might be interested in crawling soon. You are no longer quite so pitiful when on your tummy, and you will in fact cover quite a bit of distance just by rolling over and over again, both back to front and front to back. When something is just out of reach in front of you, you are starting to tip from the hips and you look like you’re about to go after it… you just don’t have the leg motions downpat yet. Your dad is working on this with you, giving you demonstrations (if you can believe that). Somehow I don’t think it’s something that really needs to be taught, like riding a bike, but he’s having fun and you’re making progress, so who am I to judge??

At seven months old, you are xx inches long and weigh xx pounds [to be confirmed at the baby weigh-in clinic tomorrow]. The holidays are fast approaching and we are so looking forward to your first Christmas. It will be here before we know it.

(All photos from today.)