In your stroller at Oma and Grandpa’s place at Thanksgiving. Not sure why you were so indignant looking!
Well Zane, Mommy is in true form writing your seventh-month letter. You’re almost 8 months old! We will try to keep this letter all about things that happened in your seventh month… good thing Mommy kept notes again because Mommy and Daddy can’t keep track of what you’re doing from one day to the next! You are such a busy little boy, it seems like every day you’re learning (and demonstrating) some brand new skill. We’ve got to try to get these things out on time… or try harder I guess, since the trying isn’t working. This was a busy month though, Mommy had a lot of photography work to catch up on and that got in the way of writing about you. But tonight, manimo, it’s all about you! (I should mention here, in case we don’t remember this in 20 years, that “manimo” is what we’ve been calling you… it evolved from “The Manimal”. Don’t ask us how, just go with it… like you do with all your other nicknames.)
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In the leaves on Thanksgiving Day at Grandma and Grandpa’s place.
This month was your second holiday dinner – you were born right before Easter so you got in on that day. It was still a first though… on this holiday, you sat up to the table and ate dinner with everyone else! We had Thanksgiving at Grandma and Grandpa’s and at Oma and Grandpa’s and both meals, you ate what everyone else ate! Well, you ate some of the things everyone else ate. And yours was pureed of course. But you surprised everyone with how much food you could pack away! Uncle Carl’s girlfriend asked us “he can eat ALL THAT?” And you COULD! You’ve been growing like a weed though, so we aren’t surprised!
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You’re getting used to your two new teeth this month. You have both bottom front teeth in now, and you look so silly and cute when you smile with them. Everyone loves it. You bit Mommy for the first time though… at least, the first time with a sharp edge! Mommy takes the boob away when you bite, and so far you don’t bite until you’re done eating. You haven’t managed to hurt your Mommy very bad yet either, but I am apprehensive about the day when you inevitably will! Hopefully by the time that happens, you’ll either be old enough to wean or old enough to teach NO.
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Sitting on the floor in the office. We put Mommy’s nursing pillow behind you so no head bonks when you topple over!
You can sit up a lot better and longer than you could last month. This month, we set you on the floor sitting up, and you can stay that way for a LONG time! You don’t randomly fall over nearly as often, and you can actually lean to grab something and get yourself back up instead of falling or getting stuck. You do still fall over if you lean too far though… and you can’t get back up on your own yet. At least you couldn’t for most of this month… on October 28, you sneakily sat up on your own while Mommy’s back was turned. And on November 2, just a few days before you turned 7 months, we saw you sit up all by yourself TWICE! After those two times though, you didn’t do it for awhile, so we kind of wondered if it was just a fluke… but as of your 7-month birthday you’re sitting up on your own whenever you want to. Never know though, it seems like you will do something and then just not bother with it for awhile even though you know you can. Are you developing a bit of a lazy streak?
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Proof that you move around a lot… Mommy had to pack you around while doing laundry! We put you in the basket and packed the laundry in all around you.
You’ve started moving around a lot this month, too. You don’t have any real control over it yet – mostly you’re rolling. In the first half of this month, you would roll over and over across the room, but you can only roll one way. So you’d get all the way to one side of the room and then be stuck, and you would lie there and yell indignantly until someone comes to rescue you. The next movement you started was inching along on your belly. Again, this isn’t very reliable… you usually end up going backwards, and you don’t have any control over where you end up. You get stuck under the coffee table a lot by backing yourself under there up to your waist… it’s hard for Mommy to come and rescue you without laughing at you just a little! The moving around has still changed things though… Mommy has to really watch you now, and you go everywhere Mommy goes when housework needs to be done!
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One of many messy meals enjoyed in your high chair.
This month we added a lunchtime meal to your daily repertoire. You’ve been pretty cranky in the afternoons, and having lunch seemed to improve that late-day personality a lot. It also makes it a bit easier for Mommy to put you down for your afternoon nap! Right now, you eat plain yogurt mixed with fruit for your lunches, and you’re pretty happy with that arrangement. Mommy found out from Oma that yogurt has protein, so we’re not too worried about adding meat to your lunch just yet.
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Your sleep habits have changed yet again this month… you are back to sleeping 12 hours a night, but you sleep a lot less during the day – there’s too much to do I guess! You sleep heavier at night too… Mommy and Daddy can actually sneak up to your crib (most nights) and look in without waking you up. About the middle of this month, though, you started getting up about 1-3 hours after going to bed and you MUST NURSE NOW before going back to sleep. We don’t think you’re doing it just for comfort either, because you eat quite a bit when you get up! Why are you doing this? Aren’t you full enough when you go to bed? And if you aren’t, then why aren’t you eating more THEN instead of 2 hours later?
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This month, we got you your first toddler bathtub. Mommy is going to go ahead and tell you the story, because you’re going to learn anyway about your Mommy’s obsession with finding a bargain! Daddy and Mommy looked at this tub at Babies R Us, set you in it and everything, and it was PERFECT for you. You could sit up in it, and it had a little raised part between your legs to keep you from slipping down into the water. But the tub was $40.00!!! Well a few days later, Mommy walked into a kids consignment store and got the same exact tub for $5.00! So that night, we filled it up and you had your first “big-boy” bath… no more kitchen sink for you! You sat up in your new tub and played with your rings and sucked the suds off your hands. Mommy and Daddy tried to teach you to splash, but you weren’t interested… although a week later you were splashing up a storm and we were wishing we hadn’t showed you how! Mommy also bought you some squirty bath toys this month, and eating those is your other favorite bath activity.
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Dressed up as Scooby Doo and sitting in Grandma’s inflatable coffin. We’re pretty sure you were the cutest kid there and probably the most well-behaved, too!
Right at the end of this month, you attended your first kids’ party. Grandma hosts a Hallowe’en party every year for all the grandkids, and this year you got to go for the first time! You were dressed as Scooby Doo. The costume was perfect because your Daddy loves Scooby Doo, but you picked it out all by yourself! Mommy was looking through the costume racks in WalMart and your stroller was parked right near them… when Mommy looked down, you had a costume in your mouth, and it was a Scooby Doo in your size! So that was the one we bought. You didn’t get to do much at the party, since all the toys and candy were for older kids, but you sure looked adorable in your costume… and you were an ANGEL all night even though we kept you up so late! Next year, we’re going to try and plan your costume a little earlier so we don’t buy it from WalMart the week before Hallowe’en again.
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There was another big event for you on Hallowe’en – you had your 6-month vaccinations and your first flu shot. You took these ones better than either of your other two times… you screamed of course, but you were smiling at the nurse within a couple of minutes as if she’d never jabbed you at all. And you were super good for the Hallowe’en party that night, as Mommy already mentioned… even though your legs were probably hurting. You did come down with a bad cold a week later though, so maybe the shots knocked your poor immune system down a little bit. Mommy got a flu shot too, and it made your milk supply go way down… that and your cold together made you go on a nursing strike right at the end of this month. But that’s going to be a story for your 8 month letter!
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Mom, how am I supposed to eat fruit that’s as big as I am?
The final thing to mention for this post is that in the very last week of the month, you started to get your “crawling” under control a lot more. You still only crawl backwards, and you still only use your hands and don’t get your legs up under you. But you also learned to roll the other direction, so now between the rolling and scooting backwards, you can get almost anywhere you want to go. Although it does still take you some time… we are OK with that because we like still being able to keep up with you! Not to mention keeping you out of things that we forget to put away. Mommy and Daddy think you might just skip right over crawling and go straight to walking, but who knows? Whatever order you decide to do things, and however long it takes you, we think everything about you is perfect and we love you more than anything. We can’t wait to see what the coming months bring!
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