7 Months

Seven months came and went because it fell on the anniversary of Dave's accident, so these are updates from Jack at 7 months plus 10 days.

• sitting without assistance
• eats his toes all the time
• found his voice - can squeal and scream LOUDLY
• slept 12+ hours straight a few nights in a row; really hoping he'll go back to his good sleeping days but teething seems to be prohibiting that
• got 3 teeth in two weeks, beating the girls by 3 months
• still sucks his thumb
• laughs all the time
• smiles at everybody
• started solid foods, but we are slowly easing into it. So far, avocados, bananas, pear, peas, and winter squash
• rocking on his knees
• army crawling everywhere towards the end of this month - he is officially mobile; I'm finding him in a different room than I left him in
• thinks I'm really funny
• drools a lot (teething)
• doesn't spit up nearly as much as he did a couple months ago
• loves the wrap
• happily plays in the nursery on Sunday mornings and usually falls asleep for part of it
• has fuzzy hair but looks really bald from a distance and in pictures because it is so blond
• need to do a photo comparison of Jack to the girls, because he looks SO much like them at this age
• loves to chew on your thumbs and fingers - can keep him quiet for twenty minutes with this
• likes playing in his Jeep
• when he gets grumpy, if you just change the scenery a bit, he's good for another 10-15 minutes - we rotate between floor time, swing, Jeep, rocker, etc.
• will go to anybody
• sometimes is startled and starts crying, usually when he's not expecting a loud noise or a person to appear
• continues to accompany me to the office on Mondays or Tuesdays, and sometimes joins staff meeting, where he sits and plays quietly, usually on the lap of someone else
• found him gnawing on a pretzel stick under the kitchen table; I need to be better about sweeping apparently
• his top gums are very swollen but those teeth are being stubborn
• loves to yank his socks off and chew on them
• thinks his squirrel toy and a toy microphone from the girls are the best things to play with, as are packages of wipes, any toy too small for him, and paper
• is in 6-9 month clothes, 9 month jammies
• didn't do much traveling this month, but we did go see his precious betrothed get baptized last Sunday. We love you sweet Virginia!
• handles shots like a champ - a short cry and then he's back to his happy self
• dressed up for Halloween, tried to eat his costume, and went to bed before trick-or-treating
• adores bathtime. He can be upset and the second you lay him on the bathmat where he can hear the water running, and a grin spreads across his face and kick kick kick go those chubby little legs

This month's photo shoot was so difficult. He's wiggly and kept trying to crawl off the chair, the lighting was terrible so most of my shots were blurry because I couldn't get the settings right on the camera. Next month I might be chasing him down the hall with the bear in tow!