7 Months Old

Say what, say what? We have a 7 month old in the house. What can I say about this kid? He is a real joy to have around. This past month was another huge boom in development, but really just this past week has been crazy. It's like he knew I was about to write a blog post about it, so he scheduled all his new tricks for this week.

Puppy dog eyes, yes.

Ace is his bestie. They have similar interests, including smelly farts, pooping in inappropriate places, chewing on things that they shouldn't, fear of strangers, and ripping out Daisy's hair. 

But let's just stick to our tried and true format of eats, and sleeps, and poops. Here we go. 

EATS

He nurses 4-5 times a day. He has generally become not easy to nurse. At his worst, I liken it to feeding one of those angry spinning alligators that bites you and spins around in circles to dismember your limbs. But with real tears, not alligator tears. And the alligator is feasting on your boob.

It's gotten better since I've only been nursing him when he wakes up from a sleep (for the day or from a nap), so he's a little drowsy and knows the routine. This means he's typically nursing every 3 to 4 hours during the day, depending how long he's down for a nap. 

He gets around 3 solid meals per day. He has a combination of purees (home made and store bought) and small bits of table foods. Lunch is usually more like a snack because he's so messy and I usually don't have time for it. Puffs all day err day, of course. Including to as a bribe to get Will to sit still to take some photos. He was pretty tired during this morning's photo-shoot---had to get my caffeine in first, sorry babe, mom blogger priorities---so it was tough to get him to sit still and/or smile.

We started giving him a bottle at bedtime because of his aforementioned alligator-ness. I recently ran out of expressed milk, so I started giving him a bottle of formula. We use Nutragemen, which I believe must be milled from the underdeveloped horns of pre-pubescent unicorns because it is so. friggin. expensive. But my mom talked me into buying it. ANYWAY. We started at 4 ounces and just went up to 6 ounces, which brings me to . . . 

SLEEPS

He went all night without nursing for the first time ever last night! He went down at 7:30pm, woke up and fussed a bit around midnight (we didn't get out of bed), but then slept until 6:30am. I was crazy engorged when I woke up, so I ran downstairs, grabbed my manual pump, and acquired 3 ounces before nursing Will, then acquired 2.5 more ounces after he nursed. No need for formula tonight!

We sleep trained. This obviously doesn't mean he sleeps through the night, but he does goes down for naps (and usually bedtime) without a peep after about two hours of awake time. He's still not really consistent in how long he sleeps, whether it be for naps or for night-nursings. But I do let him nap and I don't wake him up to nurse on a schedule like I used to.

POOPS

He's still pretty private about where he poops, once every day or two. It's usually in his crib or on the floor during some independent playtime (which is a fancy way of saying I'm not paying close attention to him for any multitude of reasons). A far and away look comes over him and then a pause, his eyes fill with determination, he pushes, and his forehead turning the faintest hue of purple. Poetry in motion.

He had this persistent diaper rash that spread from his groin up to his abdomen and face, which was just diagnosed as sebborheic dermatitis. It just sounds like a dream, right. Anyway, we can't cloth diaper again until it clears up. Fingers crossed it's gone by the time we get back from our next road trip.

But seriously, formula and disposable diapers? WHO AM I?

MILESTONES

// He goes from back/tummy to sitting. I blinked during "independent playtime" and next thing I know he was sitting on his bum.

// He scoots on his face across the room. But don't put him on the spot to do it. He gets stage fright.

// He can stand up on furniture with a little help.

// He can also roll to his desired destination, which is usually to the one area of the carpet that hasn't been vacuumed well and is riddled with dog hair.

Do I see a bit of a rattail trying to fight its way back? 

// He can feed himself! He gnaws on bananas, and picks up and feeds himself Puffs and small pieces of food.

// This month was his first time he enjoyed the swing. (We've tried before and it was basically interpreted as a torture death trap.) He will close his eyes thinking he's about to get hit his face swinging forward and then smiles in delight when he realizes his precious kisser is safe. Rinse and repeat.

// He is finally saying words with a consonant.  Just one. B. Bababas. (Which pretty much sounds like mama when you LISTEN CAREFULLY.)

I hope you enjoyed reading all about the exciting milestones of my most precious offspring. If you need more information about his short but prodigious life so far, I believe you can find all the monthly updates here.

Have a most excellent weekend.