7-Month M

7 month old M is a delight.  He smiles and laughs. He says, "Ma ma ma ma ma". Sometimes it even seems to be directed at me. He is making other consonants sounds too but they aren't recognizable enough to write out. He loves playing 'peek a boo'. It gets a giggle out of him every time. He loves 'getting' people by whomever is holding him to lunge at someone else. He is a fun, little guy.

He finally started solids, but his face shows his opinion on that craziness.  However, if his food is mixed with either apple or banana, it will at least go down and not cause him to gag. Plain pumpkin or avocado causes all sorts of faces...and subsequent gagging.  He was finally starting to eat pretty well and he got a cold at the end of the month and is back to not eating much. But, he'll pick it up again when he's ready.

I don't have a picture of him standing, but he loves to stand up. He'll be doing it independently far too quickly. He doesn't like to sit. When he's being put down, he keeps his legs straight. He wants to stand. It is easiest to lay him on his belly when he's being deposited on the floor because otherwise you have to bend his legs to get him to sit. Silly baby. I had almost decided that he was going to stand independently before he sat independently because he didn't practice sitting nearly as much as standing.  However, just before he turned 7 months old, he started sitting independently. He can almost get himself back into a sitting position from his belly but he's not quite there yet.

He's really getting up on his knees and rocking. He can even make some forward progress, but it generally involves pushing off with his feet and vaulting himself forward into a nose-dive to the floor, which may or may not result in tears.  It isn't horribly efficient but it gets him what he wants. Choking hazards are a concern because he seems to get where he wants to go and can now pick things up and shove them into his mouth. He loves paper and plastic. While holding him, he is becoming a 'Grabby-McGrab-Grab'. He tries to get whatever is in your hands. Meal prep while holding him is beyond challenging anymore.

He went to the doctor on Oct 23rd. He weighed 18.75 lbs and was 27 inches tall. He is pretty close to the 50th percentile for both.

Sleeping is still challenging. He did give us 2 good nights of sleep this month. One night he did 7 straight hours and the next was 6.5. However, then the next night he only allowed me 4 hours. Go figure. I blame it on teeth...although sometimes gas bubbles wake him up too. My least favorite part of this stage is that he tends to be up for 2 hour chunks in the middle of the night when he's unhappy. That tends to make me unhappy too.

M has 3 teeth (#3 erupted on the 19th) and the 4th is visible but it hasn't erupted yet. However, based on his drooling, I expect it to pop through any day.

Swaddling is a thing of the past. He just likes to sleep normally and not a burrito anymore. I miss my burrito baby but do enjoy not having to swaddle (and reswaddle) anymore.

He started taking a pacifer this month to go to sleep. Once his teeth erupted, I decided that chewing on my fingers was no longer an option and so we tried the paci again. After a little convincing, he accepted it.  That has made a HUGE difference in getting his to sleep easily. There is no longer much screaming. I pop the pacifer into his mouth, bounce on the ball a bit, and he is out like a light. He's my first baby to take one and I love it! I probably won't love breaking him of the habit later, but for now, it makes my life so much easier.

C is still loving him to pieces. Life is never dull.