Seven months!

June 23 - seven months old

It's been a big month!

First, a big month in terms of life-happenings. Sam started daycare, he was baptized, he went to two conferences with his mama, and came along to St. Olaf College for Matt's 10-year reunion festivities.

The adjustment to daycare has been shockingly smooth - for him and for me. He goes four mornings a week and one afternoon. Within the first couple days that he was attending, we noticed some huge developmental leaps. 

After beginning daycare, he started talking more than he ever did before - he spouts off long strings of nonsense words and you can tell that he is actually trying to communicate something. He likes saying "dadadadada" and "lah-deh-lah-deh-lah-deh." He'll shriek and squeal loudly, just for fun, and if he is frustrated but not yet fully upset, he'll start talking in a scolding sort of voice before he resorts to crying.

Also, since he sees other babies in daycare who are older than he is and capable of more things, he has started imitating their behaviors, which has led to major progress in sitting up - he can sit completely unassisted, though he can't quite get into a sitting position by himself yet. He has also started some version of crawling. It began with him on his tummy, propped up on his arms, able to nudge himself forward if his feet were braced against something. Then, he figured out that if he dug his toes into the carpet, he could launch himself forward. Now, he often tucks one knee up under himself and scootches forward, still mostly pulling himself along on his belly with his arms. Once or twice, he has gotten himself up on hands and knees, but hasn't figured out that he needs to move only one leg at a time. Instead, he tries to move both legs and both arms at once, and just belly-flops. He is excellent at spinning in circles on his belly, though, and is always interested in scooting toward a toy or person or object that he wants.

One of his favorite games right now is taking his pacifier, throwing it, and then fetching it. He also likes crawling toward daddy's shoes and chasing after the computer cord that lives under the couch.

Sam is a total mama's boy right now. I especially love picking him up from daycare. He'll be playing and not at all notice that I've come into the room, but then I'll say his name, and he'll turn at the sound of my voice, and once he sees me, he gives me the biggest smile and makes these crazy gutteral noises, as if he is just so excited that he can't even put words to it. He'll reach out for me when I get close, and then smile at everybody in the room once he's in my arms.

Even at home, he gets in moods when I am the only person he wants. These days, he refuses to be left alone for any reason, by me or by Matt. If we move out of his sight lines, he sobs and sobs. Makes it hard to cook dinner or take a shower some days.

When we're all close by and accounted for, though, Sam is pretty content playing by himself. He'll sit on the floor and play with some toys, and when he's really focused, he'll be happy playing alone for close to half an hour or more.

He is still a huge fan of eating, and we've added some new foods to his repertoire. So far, he has eaten rice cereal, oatmeal, avocado, sweet potato, banana, peas, pear, apple, and carrot. His happiest reaction came when he tried pears. His saddest reaction came when he tried peas. But at this point, he'll eat any of the foods on that list, if not by themselves, then mixed with other foods on the list.

He can take down close to 8 oz of baby food in a sitting, and even when he's done, he's still interested in the idea of eating more. He's plenty happy, though, to take a pacifier and play with a couple of toys in his high chair while he waits for us to finish our meal. His favorite mealtime toy right now is the plastic case that his teething rings come in. Silly kid. We've gotten in the habit of FaceTiming Matt's parents or my parents over dinner, so that they can "eat" with him.

He has no teeth yet, though it really really seems like there might be a tooth or two in the works on the bottom. I feel his gums whenever he seems particularly drooly or cranky, but haven't felt any teeth yet.

As far as sleeping goes, we have some bad habits going on right now that we're looking to break. He'll still go down pretty reliably at 8:30 p.m. or so, but he has stopped nursing himself to sleep. So our bedtime feed is now followed up with anywhere from five to thirty minutes of rocking and bouncing and patting to get him drowsy enough to put into the crib without him immediately waking up and crying. He wakes up pretty regularly around midnight or 1:00 a.m. these days, which isn't the best for his sleep schedule or for mine. Sometimes he's content to be patted or rocked back to sleep, sometimes he is hungry. Then he'll still wake up reliably between 3:00 a.m. and 4:00 a.m., which is our usual overnight feeding time, but it's anybody's guess whether he'll fall back asleep after that or not. Recently, we've had far too many 5:00 a.m. or 5:30 a.m. mornings for my taste. Especially because he isn't a big napper. He'll sleep for about 40 minutes in the morning and about 40 minutes in the afternoon, if we're lucky.

Lack of sleep hasn't done much damage to his disposition, though, for which I'm grateful. He's still a ridiculously happy kid. He loves to smile and to play peek-a-boo into his mama's shoulder. His chest and underarms are ticklish, and he'll blurt out a loud, distinct, "HA-HA-HA!" when he's in a particularly giggly mood.

He is still fascinated by his hands and his feet, and will sometimes lift up his arm to eye level and twist his wrist around (like he's doing the royal wave), watching his hand and fingers with fascination while he does so. He is now quite adept at lying on his back and pulling his feet up to his face, sometimes sucking on his toes. He is in a grabby phase right now, where he wants to grasp everything, which is often a very pinchy experience if you are on the receiving end. Extra painful if he grabs with his fingernails.

He is still incredibly sweet. While nursing or cuddling, he'll reach up and stroke my face. He LOVES our kitties (and our friends' puppies), and will scoot around to follow them the best he can. He loves reaching out to pet them, though he's still more grabby than gentle. Occasionally, he'll pull his pacifier out of his mouth and try to share it with Matt or with me, sticking it in our mouths like we stick it in his.

Other things he likes: reading with daddy, twisting his head around to watch baseball on TV (he's on a strict no-TV guideline, and doesn't pay attention to the screen much at all, except when baseball is on!), trying to grab mama's phone, eating, "singing" himself to sleep, listening to mama sing, chewing on anything and everything, drooling, and squirming/rolling during diaper changes.

He's still our little guy - fitting into a handful of his 0-3 onesies, and a handful of his 3-month clothes. He fits pretty perfectly into his 6-month clothes, and anything bigger than that is HUGE on him. We have swim trunks, a rash guard, a swim diaper, and a floppy hat for him (plus a tube of baby-friendly sunscreen), so I think that a visit to the pool is in our very near future...

Sam, you are so sweet and loving. You are full of joy so much of the time...and when you're cranky, you're still pretty darn cute. It is so much fun to watch you grow up and watch your little personality continue to shine through. Mama thinks you look like your daddy, but daddy is sure that you are looking more and more like your mama every day. We'll see how you continue to change as you keep getting bigger. Here's to another healthy, happy month! We love you!

Seriously - he's Mr. Personality!