7 Months

You're seven months old now, and you've officially hit that age where it seems like every day you are learning something new.  The biggest milestone that is close on the horizon is crawling.  You can get yourself up on all fours, but you haven't figured out how to actually move your arms and legs from that position yet.  In the meantime, you roll and scoot to get where you want to go.  We can't leave you, even for just a minute, because when we come back, you'll be in a completely different spot. 

You'r newfound coordination makes you a lot more fun to play with.  You've learned to roll a ball in the past few days.  It is pretty funny to watch, because you basically flap your arms around until you hit the ball and it rolls away from you.  You also kick the ball sometimes.  Similarly, that consists of you moving your feet back and forth until you make contact with the ball and it rolls away.  You are also extremely fascinated by toys that make noise or light up.  We have a little play radio that both Audrey and Barrett liked a lot as well.  It is now you're favorite toy too.  You also liked the remote control toy that plays music and talks, but your older brother claimed that one for himself again.  Your improving accuracy with movement also makes it more challenging at times, like when you planted your hand in my tomato soup at bread co. 

You've started to make even more sounds then before.  Last weekend, you surprised us all by blurting out "da-da" when your daddy was holding you.  You've been really entertained by making the "da" sound as well as "ba."  Generally though, you still like to be loud.  When your siblings are being even a little loud, it seems as though you want to confirm your presence by trying to be the loudest one in the room. 

You've started getting little bits of real food that isn't pureed.  Initially, you didn't know what to do with it, but now you gobble up pufss, yogurt bites, and bananas.  You do well with steamed carrots and peas too.  You also love crackers.  When we saw your great-grandparents in Greenville last weekend, your meemaw got a big kick out of feeding you crackers.  You're also improving your accuracy rate; I'd say that about 70% of the food you attempt to put in your mouth actually ends up there. 

You still love to put everything in your mouth.  The biggest challenge lately is dog toys.  Jack likes to bring you his toys so you'll play fetch with him, but I don't think he realizes you can't throw.  So, instead of throwing the toys, you try to put them in your mouth.  You also like chewing on your hands, but you don't suck your thumbs at all.  You are a pacifier baby.  You can even get your pacifier back in your mouth when it falls out now.  I just wish you'd start doing that at night so that you'd go right back to sleep when you wake up. 

Speaking of sleeping, I think your siblings have conditioned you to like noisy environments.  At hom, you fight going to sleep tooth and nail when you need a nap, but if it's noisy, you fall asleep with little persuasion.  At the movies last night, you fell asleep easily.  This morning while your dad and siblings were having an obnoxiously loud dance party, you fell asleep.  Granted, in both cases, I was holding you, but still...there is no way I could have slept in either scenario. 

All in all, you're a happy baby, especially when you're outside.  Even with the increasingly cool temperatures, you don't seem to mind.  You don't even have to be playing with anything.  You like to just look around.  Granted, if there is a stick, leaf or nut within your reach, you're going to grab it and check it out. 

I am so excited to see all of the new things you learn in the coming months.  You are getting so much bigger, stronger, and more inquisitive than you've ever been.  As I look at you, I am so thankful that God blessed me with three amazing children, all unique, all special, and all loved deeply by their mommy.