Ant diary: Seven months

Growth check: As I had guessed, Ant was 28 inches at his six month (one week) appointment. He's probably a little longer than that now, given how he fills out his clothes. He's also 17lbs 9oz as of today's weighing, only 2 oz more than that six month appointment, so his weight gain has definitely slowed down. He's still a very tall baby for his age!

Talking: Lots of new noises this month. Ant has started making noises while he's breathing in, which is pretty funny. He also does one that sounds like a hissing cat. But the best? Just yesterday he started saying "da da da da". Not just once or twice, but hundreds of times. He's been so chatty since he figured out how to do that, I think he's really chuffed with himself.


Movement: No major leaps here - he's much more stable sitting and standing, and actually doesn't seem to mind being on his tummy anymore, but not close to crawling (I don't think), nor pulling up or sitting up on his own. I'm wondering, though, if he'll skip crawling altogether and go straight to walking - with us holding onto his arms he can motor just about anywhere he wants to go, so there isn't much incentive for him to crawl! One new thing he has started doing in the last week or so is twisting from a sitting position onto his tummy - I guess that's how he'll do it when (if) he does start crawling?

Mental: A clear example of Ant's learning - we started playing with the basket of change we have in the office. The first time we played with it I had to stop him from putting it in his mouth about twenty times. The next day I only had to tell him "no" five times. The third day it was down to two, and Mom said he didn't try at all the following day. Another funny story - he and Mark were playing with the stackable cups. Ant had his normal two fingers in his mouth, and was holding one of the cups in his other hand. Mark built a tower of some more cups, Ant took a look at it, and then nonchalantly swiped at the tower with the cup in his right hand to knock it over. Three or four times! The final thing I wanted to mention is when Mark went in to get him up from his nap this morning, he was clearly reaching for the button to turn on the mobile. He's turned it on a couple of times in the middle of the night when he's been crying, and it's calmed him right down. Yay for self-soothing!

Toys and games: Antony loves banging on just about anything. We've started playing a lot with the stack of cups and basket of change in the office, he really enjoys both of those, I think because he can practice with his hands. He's also really enjoying his ....ummm..... twice?-weekly baths. They're not really part of our bedtime routine because they are definitely NOT relaxing - he loves splashing both with his hands and his legs, and reaches for the bath toys now, although splashing Mom and Dad is still the most fun.


Teeth: The top two came through the first week of this past month. They're starting to be more visible. I'm wondering now if the next set are already on their way - he's been drooling like a water fountain the last few days, and really chewing on things. Like his spoon when we're trying to feed him!

Hands: His dexterity has really improved. He can now pick up individual coins, get the cups out of the stack, and hold onto anything he wants to for as long as he wants to. He's also started opening and closing his fingers, or twirling his hand around, when he's sitting down, just practicing moving it around I think! He is really able to spin the toys on the jumperoo and exersaucer, and spends quite a lot of time doing that.


Feeding: We've added all kinds of foods over the past month. Ant's now eating the three different kinds of cereals, veggies (peas, carrots, sweet potatoes, squash), and fruits (bananas, apples, pears, peaches, mixes of varied fruits, and of course, prunes). We just gave him some of mom's home-made yoghurt yesterday, and he seems to quite like it, even plain! He's a great eater, eating anywhere between 0.75 and 2! ounces of each part of the meal. We're now at 3 meals of solids a day, although still trying to figure out the breastmilk / solid combination. It can be hard to fit the different feeds in the afternoon, so we've been down to three nursings a day.


Sleeping: Last month I was saying that we were finally starting to see the "naturally earlier bedtime" of Healthy Sleep Habits Happy Child, and that it was moving from 9 to closer to 8. Well, in the last week, Ant's been going to bed at 7! And, he finally has developed his regular morning nap - every day this week he's woken up at 7am, and gone down for his first nap right around 9. My first pattern in trixietracker (http://go.trixietracker.com/site/ajtoday/sleep?fullchart). Very exciting. He's also gone from 4 naps most days down to 3, and on occasion only 2. Although our issue at the moment is that he's also started waking up hungry between 3-5am again, which hadn't happened for quite a while. We're thinking that perhaps he's not nursing enough d uring the day, so we're going to try going back to 4 and see if that helps. I don't mind getting up at 6am, but 3 is really too early!

Ant's hair is getting longer and longer, but it's still hard to see because it's so blond!

A quick "me" update - I'm actually back into my size 4 jeans this week! I hadn't anticipated getting too small for the size 6's, but I was looking at myself in the mirror the other day and they really looked quite baggy, to my surprise. I've also started going to a physical therapist both for my knees and for my stomach. My diastasis is mostly better, but my stomach muscles are still so spongy! I want to make sure that I don't make the diastasis worse in trying to get them tummy muscles back into shape.