Oh my sweet baby boy. Seven months. You're on the cusp of the "older baby" season--- the season where it is apparent the toddler you are about to become. You're not quite there--- you're still my little baby, still in that first part of babyhood where you're teeny and mostly dependent on me. But you're on the cusp. So I try to inhale every moment of your baby-ness, because before I know it, you'll be so big.
At seven months:
* You are loving baby food so much. You have a fruit and a veggie at lunch and again at dinner. Sometimes I stir in that nasty-smelling baby food meat puree. We almost always mix in baby oatmeal to thicken your food, and you are in love with every speck of it. Well, except that one time I tried to mix avocado with baby food meat. It was disgusting, and you knew it. Your faces were classic!
* You are sitting up on your own! It started about a week after you turned 7 months, and now, 18 days into your 7th month, you are at 75% ability-- almost never tipping over!
* You love your exersaucer. You love laying on your back and rolling and shimmying all over the floor. You love your Bumbo because now it means food. (One day I suppose we'll move Lucy out of the high chair so you can get a turn.)
* You take two very consistent naps-- one from 9-10:30am, and one from 1-3:00pm every day. Your bedtime is 7:00pm, and you get a warm bath every night before bed.
* You are a part-time binky baby--- just a silly thing we tried the other week and you kind of liked it! So we offer it to you if you're getting grumpy... but not really at your bed or naptimes, so for now, it's not a sleep aid. I'm kind of glad about that.
* Your chosen lovey is NOT the raccoon I chose for you, but the orange soft taggie blanket that the hospital gave you as a gift. You LOVE it. You still love the raccoon, but that orange one-- true love.
* You say "mmMOMmmmmmmm" when you're starting to get fussy--- I like to pretend it's because you're calling for me... but I think the truth is that closing your lips around your gums feels good right now because you are going to pop in your first teeth any day.
* So no teeth yet--- but a definite increase in drool and mouthing things. Noah got his first teeth right at 7.5 months old, and Lucy was almost 8 months old, so you're due anytime.
* You love to look out the back door at the trees and the sky and the yard. I love holding you while you clap your hand on the glass door to feel the cool and hear the sound.
* You still love to be held in my ring sling. It is my favorite method of transporting you-- I get snuggles and I get to kiss your head whenever I want.
* You almost always wake up happy and chatty. I am so so happy about this--- that you are loving your life and feeling rested and confident enough to wake quietly and happily instead of abruptly and with tears.
* You smile so very much, and your smile is completely heart-melting. You laugh so easily too. You are utterly charming.
* You love your siblings. Noah loves you back, and Lucy is finally showing interest in you, even though recently, that interest manifests in her patting your head a bit too hard, followed immediately by a light stroke and her mimicking my words, "Soft!!! Soft!!" She's still learning, I guess. :)
* You love your daddy and get so happy to see him when he walks in the door after work. You are so good for him, and he is sweet enough to take one of your night wakings/feedings if I am too wiped to do it. He says he loves the nighttime snuggles.
*You are doing a great job sleeping from bedtime at 7 until 1 or 2 am. You then will either wake once, around 2, or twice, at 1 and 4ish. I'm okay with this for now.
* You love Puffs and Mum Mums and chewing on Hot Wheels and blowing raspberries and taking baths and being tickled and nuzzled and anything that makes sounds.
And I love you just like this. JUST LIKE THIS. In no time at all you'll LOOK different with TEETH, and you'll start trying out mobility... and you'll try to feed yourself... and just like that, you'll be "Older Baby"... Chunky and toddlerish and toothish and clever-expressioned and babble-y and AWESOME, of course... but older. And for now, I will cherish that you still need me entirely and that you still fit in 6 month clothes and that you still look mostly like that littler baby you were a few months ago. I don't need time to go any quicker than it already is. I completely love Seven-Month-Old Quinn.
Quinn at 6 months.
Awww, he is so adorable! And yes, it's some of the best if baby times, his little personality is growing but he still relies on Mama. I miss those days - my third just turned two. And yes, he's still my baby, but sometimes I miss those baby days!
ReplyDeleteMy middle child just started kindergarten, and like you, I am enjoying not having to load up to drive to preschool!
I love your writing, I can relate to so much of it! Your earlier post regarding the difficulties of trying to do everything with 3 kids - I just sat and nodded my head and thought "YES", she totally knows. My baby is two, and it has gotten easier and we do have a great groove going on BUT sometimes it is just rough to juggle everything. The hardest thing for me has been to learn to step back and admit that I can't do everything, and to focus on what is important. My "rocks".
You're doing great! And the pictures of your happy, sweet, adorable babies are proof!