Seven Months And Becoming Mobile!

 

Wow!  Elijah is seven months old.  He is just moving right along in life.  He’s such a handsome, happy boy with the bluest eyes that they are often breathtaking, though I may be biased.  He used to be pretty content on his own, but he really loves attention now and is quite social.  The church nursery always complains that he won’t sleep for them because he just wants to interact all the time.  On the other hand, he sleeps great in his boring home…more on that later.

 

Last month I reported that he was sitting up well and rocking back and forth on his hands and knees.  Now he is able to get himself into the sitting position and he moves all around practicing going from back, to tummy, to hands and knees, to sitting and isn’t happy unless he is moving.  He can pretty effectively reach any toy (or the cat – he LOVES the cat) that he wants to.  He started crawling just this week and he is working to perfect that skill.  I’m not quite ready for that much mobility, but Oh well!  I knew when I first felt him move at 14 weeks pregnant that I had an active one.  Then he came out with red hair!  And sure enough he has proven to love being on the move.

While we were eating dinner last night Elijah crawled across the living room and helped himself to the toy cabinet.  It was cute!

Despite having and entire cabinet full of toys, Josiah also has this box of his special small toys.  Elijah raided it during Josiah’s naptime yesterday.  (Those toys in the background are lined up because they are “sleeping too” according to Josiah.)

We have had a slow start on solid food.  In general, he has never been too excited about food, which is interesting considering how robust and active he is.  I’m so used to Josiah’s voracious appetite, that Elijah leaves me worried, but he seems to be doing well.  Now about 6 weeks in he is eating a little better, though he usually does better if I’m not around since he still prefers nursing which I now do after solids just to encourage his interest.  He is also starting to balk at the bottle a bit, but eats enough to get by when he has to.  So far he has experienced rice cereal, oatmeal, sweet potatoes, carrots, squash, green beans, peas, nectarine, apple sauce, prune, and banana.  Next is avocado.  He’s done great with no reactions and his skin has even completely cleared.

This is how he sometimes feels about the high chair.

  Peas anyone?  I have a picture of Josiah with the same facial expression as the one on the right at the same age.  I’ll have to find it and post them together.

He does enjoy his food sometimes!  This was after a big meal of peas, carrots, and apple sauce.  He’s so wiggly when he’s excited that hitting his mouth with the spoon can be a real challenge, hence the food all over his cheeks and nose.

On the health front he’s done great!  Except for his current little head cold that I so generously passed to the entire family.  He’s now off of all reflux meds though you still have to beware of copious spit up that comes with no warning!  It is so nasty now that it contains solids :)  He still has no teeth, but I see them right under his gums.  Who knows how long they’ll take to make their debut.

Here’s one of my two laundry “helpers”.

He is a great little sleeper, except now since he is sick.  He had been sleeping completely through the night all month, so hopefully we’ll return to that soon.  He also generally takes 2 two hour naps and 1 one hour nap.

I don’t know why, but I like these two pictures.  In case you are wondering, that is the baby monitor.  Josiah was sleeping inside.

I mentioned last month that he says “bah bah” and “dah dah”.  This month he has added “mah mah”.  There may be more interspersed in there, but that is all I’ve noted so far.  These syllables are in addition to his ear piercing screams that he likes to let loose just for the fun of hearing himself scream.  It is kind of irritatingly funny when Josiah starts to mimic him and you can’t tell who is doing what without checking it out.

This little man is such an amazing person already.  We love his spirit.  He seems to be just a bit wild and I’m bracing myself to deal with it in a productive positive way in hopes to form it into a strong point for him.  I’m hoping Josiah’s insightful personality that keeps him out of trouble will influence Elijah and that Elijah’s “go get ‘em” personality encourages Josiah to take calculated risks.  I think they could be a great match!

Of course they won’t look at the camera and smile at the same time, but this is their first bath together.  Josiah likes to “wash” Elijah’s belly and Elijah likes to lick the water off his fingers.  Just look at Elijah’s piercing eyes!

 

My heart has certainly been stolen by yet another boy and sometimes I just smile at the thought of my future with my little family.  Elijah has already added such a great little element to our life.  Happy seven months, Elijah!