Seven Months

October 23:

Dear Finn,
What a fun month this has been for you! You are officially on the move, and can scoot yourself just about anywhere you'd like to go- and fast! No longer can we set you on the bed while we brush our teeth or on the living room rug while we grab something in the kitchen. It's made life a little trickier but more fun for sure.

Turning six months meant that you got to try solid food for the very first time! You have tried avocado, sweet potatoes, apples, pears, butternut squash, bananas, peas, carrots, rice cereal and oatmeal this month and you loved it all. At first you would only have a few bites, but towards the end of the month you must have hit a growth spurt because you just couldn't get enough. You complained loudly if we weren't getting spoonfuls into your mouth fast enough! You're also having a good time learning how to feed yourself. Grabbing the spoon isn't all that successful for you, but you've gotten the hang of feeding yourself pieces of banana, cooked apples or Mum Mum crackers with your fingers.

 Towards the end of the month we gave you some puffs for the first time so that you could practice your pincer grip. It's tricky but I'd say about half of the puffs do make their way to your mouth. The other half make their way to Duncan's mouth which is probably even more fun for you. You're drinking from a straw cup now, and throwing that item on the floor is lots of fun as well!

Unfortunately, feeding puffs (and the occasional squished banana piece) to your brother Duncan hasn't won him over as a Finn fan quite yet. He's just not quite sure what to make of you as you crawl around- often towards him. We're working on helping him warm up to you but at the moment he's pretty scared. You're being very patient despite the fact that you'd really like to be loving on him at all times.

Another first for you this month was your first cold. The worst part about it for you was having your nose wiped, or worse, emptied by the snotsucker. Maybe you like those boogers where they are, because you scream whenever a boogie wipe comes near, and that snotsucker is truly the worst thing that has ever happened to you. You are much happier though when it's over and your nose has been un-stuffed, so we're going to keep it up.

Sitting up by yourself was a skill mastered by you this month, and we had to lower your crib to the middle setting after you started sitting up in bed and grabbing the rails. You can get yourself from laying down to sitting up and back again... and we watch you do it many times in your crib while you're supposed to be napping! A couple of times we've even watched you fall asleep sitting up.  Your naps are going much better this month, and we can now almost always count on about an hour in the morning and another in the late afternoon, and once in awhile you surprise us with two hours.

You absolutely love looking at yourself in the mirror that sits in front of your car seat, and so loading you into the car now always elicits a big grin... followed reliably about fifteen minutes later by a nap. You're grabbing and slapping everything in sight, including your mom's hair and earrings, your dad's hats, and Duncan's fur. You crack up when we zerbert your belly or blow your hair around (you're growing a little bit more of it finally).  Keeping you on your changing table and wrangling you into your clothing have become Olympic sports, in which your dad and I medal only occasionally, doing much better when we get to compete as a team :)

Seven Month Stats: 19 lbs, 8 oz (which was the weight of your Mom at one year according to her well-kept baby book), and 28 or 29" long.
Size: Lots of 6-12, and 9 month sizes. Your new fleece pajamas are size 12 months and are only a little bit too big. When you wear disposable diapers, you're in a size 3. We still have you on the medium adjustment of your BumGenius diapers.
Nicknames: Finno, Mr. Finn, Finny, and your dad calls you Dude
Must-haves: Nosefrida Snotsucker, Fisher-Price Baby's First Blocks, BABYBJÖRN Bib
Milestones:
September 30: First cold
October 4: We had to lower your crib
October 9: We ordered a back up to your favorite lovey, Mr. Bear. You can tell them apart though, and you don't love Imposter Bear nearly as much.
October 11: You can go from laying down to sitting up and back again.
October 13: You are practically running in circles in your Doodlebugs play table.
October 15: You drank from a straw.
October 17: You discover the joy of throwing food to Duncan from your high chair.

The more we get to know you, the more we love you, you active little guy, you.  We love playing with you, reading to you, feeding you, and learning more and more about how to be your parents.  Once again this was the best month yet, and we can't wait to top it next month.

Love you so much I can't stand it,
Momma