7 Months Old

(Photo sessions are becoming a bit more challenging)!

Craziness!!!  We have a 7 month old!  He is becoming SUCH a little boy.  We all (me, Greg, my mom, Callie) often look at him and notice just how much of a BOY he is becoming.  It's so fun to see his personality developing, although as I have mentioned, still incredibly hard to see how his baby dayz are dwindling away.

Some of my favorite moments with Ben are to watch him take in the things around him.  He has very clear preferences for certain toys over other.  Stacking cups and toy cars seem to really get him going.  And lately, he is very much enjoying his reflection in the mirror.  We also just love to make him laugh - something his dad is (obviously) very good at!

PS - Ankles in mirror are SMALLER than they appear. (Dear God I HOPE so anyway).

I have been noticing just how happy he is when all three of us are together.  Greg went away last weekend for a night to have a little mancation with his friends, and the second that he arrived home, Ben was all smiles and as happy as could be. 

Ben is almost entirely in 9 month clothing right now, with the exception of a few 6 month cardigans and jackets.  He has almost outgrown his bear hat, which we had received in one of our Citrus Lane boxes - perhaps this winter I will get him another one in a bigger size!

As I mentioned recently, he has started to pull himself up to a stand (occasionally) while sitting in his crib.  I can tell his main motivation is to pull himself up just far enough to get his mouth around the edge of his crib, where there are now little tiny teeth marks from where he is chewing on it.  My mom said that my crib had those same teeth marks :)

In the last month, Ben has gone from rolling over and around only occasionally, to doing it ALL THE TIME.  In his crib at night he is rolling a ton, reaching for his teethers, playing his crib piano and squeezing his soothe and glow seahorse.

In terms of naps, I still cannot figure out his schedule.  Each time I attempt to create a napping schedule for him, Ben's needs seem to change.  Currently, it seems that he does not always require an early morning nap, and instead is usually waiting until after his morning feeding to go down.  This nap is sometimes very short, and sometimes is 3 hours long!  Depending on the length, he then needs another early afternoon nap....followed by a short late afternoon/early evening nap.  Like I said, every day it seems to be different.  I would love it if it were consistent every day!

Ben has also started to whine.  A lot.  I can't really tell if it's simply teething pain, or if he is bored, or if he is frustrated that he can't crawl yet (but obviously has the desire to), or a combination of all three?  Either way, it can be frustrating (probably for both of us) to not know what he wants.  Here is one of his new "moves".  I am pretty sure this is his pre-crawl attempt.  He generally goes backwards from here, but I can tell he is on his way!

As you can see, we got the rug!

In terms of eating food, he is getting a little better.  I now try to feed him pureed baby food (jarred) 2 times a day, as he responded to that a lot better than what I was making for him (mean!)  He still does not love it, but once I wiggle the spoon in his mouth he will take it in and begrudgingly swallow it.  I am careful not to push it too far, so when he starts to squeeze his lips together and turn his head away, I stop.  It's a process!

Our love for Ben just grows and grows with each day we spend with him!  This next month ahead of us should be a busy one, as I can tell Ben is mentally working out the details on how he will become more mobile.  NOT. READY.