There are only so many dimensions to the life of a seven-and-a-half-month-old, and sleeping and eating still dominate our routine. He's still sleeping like a champ, usually at least 11 hours at night with two naps a day (of varying length, though they almost always total 3-4 hours). No complaints there!
His favorite foods include oatmeal, peas, apples, and sweet potatoes, and he doesn't mind making a complete mess with them ;-) Still not diggin' the avocados, though! We've also been practicing with a transitional sippy cup in hopes that he'll eventually take milk from it at day care. He generally treats it like a chew toy, but he's gradually getting the hang of it! His favorite part of meal time, though, may be the face-wiping that comes at the end. He loves nothing more than to have something pulled over his face, so we always play with the damp paper towel for a few minutes before the clean-up operation commences. I really need to post some video of this... it's pretty hysterical. I don't know that I've ever seen him get more amped up over anything else!
Given his love of the tub, it isn't terribly surprising that he totally digs the kiddie pool as well! He spent probably two hours happily splashing around and chewing on pool toys at Ben's family's Memorial Day cookout :-) We can't wait to spend a long weekend with our great friends, soon-to-be-newlyweds Joe & Tiffany, at the beach in July... I bet he'll LOVE their big pool, though I'm not so sure about the "BIG" pool (that is, the Atlantic)!
Eli is becoming more and more interactive with his cousins and is simply fascinated by other little people like him. We've always looked forward to seeing him play with his many small cousins (of which there are 6, plus a 7th arriving in August!), so we're really enjoying his development into a little social being!
Along those same lines, he always prefers to be playing interactively with Mommy and Daddy. He will self-entertain for a short while if need be, but he loves to play simple toy-less games (even if it's just sitting in a laundry basket) with us. He LOVES peek-a-boo and being startled... unless it's a little too close to bedtime. Daddy has been burned once or twice trying to play-scare him when he's a little too fragile!
My little running buddy also LOVES to be outside in the stroller! Even just sitting out on the deck or front stoop for a few minutes can completed change his tune if he's being fussy. Daddy got us a jogging stroller for Mothers' Day and we've really been enjoying it. Being able to go out for a run whenever the mood strikes has been wonderful. I've always found it more difficult to stay motivated if there's a specific time that I "have to" work out because it's my only free time. Sometimes you just want to relax in your free time! Not to mention I have more time to start dreading it if it's a scheduled thing, versus a spur-of-the-moment thing. This way we can go out for a run right after I've just had a 2-hour nap time to relax, regroup, get a few things done around the house... whatever might have kept me from using that time to work out. And now that I have the jogging stroller, I feel more motivated to use our outdoor time to run (versus just going out for a leisurely stroll) - if I'm gonna get him all sunscreened-up and get the stroller out, I might as well work on my post-baby physique while I'm at it!
While we're still many months away from speech, our beautiful boy is starting to pick up some consonant sounds. Funny as it sounds, he stared with "vuh" - I think that it was a stepping stone on the way to "buh" since the latter requires a little more lip control than the former. Though he can certainly make an "m" sound (and uses it most frequently as a lower-pitched way to whine!), I'm still trying to coax out a "mama" ;-) We've started signing with him and hope to see him signing back within the next two months or so. We use "eat" and "all done" most frequently, but I try to work in the signs for "play", "diaper", "more" and "sleep" as often as they come up in conversation. The goal is to give him signs that he can use to express his needs/desires once he gets the hang of it, to reduce frustration and give him a head start in communicating with us. We also use the sign for "cat" a lot, as he is quite taken with our two kitties and is always looking around for them!
As far as developmental milestones go, he stands quite stably with very little help and loves to stand at the coffee table and slap it to death! He is also starting to rock back and forth on his hands and knees, so I'm mentally preparing myself to have a mobile baby in the not-too-distant future...
(Video to come... working out the Blogger kinks!)
He's scooting around on his butt some, though I don't think it's exactly "intentional" at this point - I think it's just a result of leaning and reaching around for toys. In the same way, he scoots backward on his belly incidentally while trying to get up onto his knees (they usually just slide out from under him and the result is that he moves backward). All of this "incidental" movement can carry him quite a distance, though - gone are the days when I could put him down and expect to find him in the same place a few minutes later! I'm in trouble once he realizes that he can move around at his own command.
Well, that about sums up the goings on in the life of our silly little charmer! His developing personality has us falling deeper in love every day :-) As much as you wish that they could stay tiny forever, it's so true what other moms tell you... that each stage brings its own incredible new joys to behold!
Such a cutie! He seems like a wonderfully good natured baby :)
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