Seven Months Old and Going Strong

Our Ollie Bear is 7 months old today! This last month has flown by; I feel as though I just updated his 6 month status.

His personality has started to develop more this month. He doesn't like loud noises and, in fact, cries when certain people laugh (Specifically, when my good friend, Phuong, and Andrew's good friend, Dom, laugh. They both have booming laughs!). He's very observant, although we've known that from the day he was born! In fact, my good friend, Aminta, tells me that her mom still talks about how she's never seen such an alert newborn. That trait has continued to develop. He picks things up, studies them, tests them in his mouth, and bangs them on things. He'll pick up two objects and bang them together. He scratches at objects and table tops to see what they feel like. He flips objects over in his hands to see them from different angles. During feeding time, when I hand him his spoon, he now sticks his hand into the food and watches his hand as he mashes the food between his fingers. Lately, he's gotten extra grabby. My glasses are not safe! Today, Andrew opened his desk drawer, and within 5 seconds, Oliver reached in and threw two packs of batteries and a glue stick onto the floor.

Oliver's also getting more mobile. He tries very hard to push himself forward, and he frequently uses one foot to push forward a few inches and then flops onto his back. Then, he rolls back onto his stomach and pushes with one foot again, moving forward and flopping onto his back. Occasionally, he pushes himself up into a position that's similar to the yoga pose, downward dog. We have to watch him all the time now! We haven't set up the baby gate, but if I'm on the opposite end of a room from him, I keep the door closed so he doesn't motor out to the stairs. Speaking of which, Oliver took his first tumble this month, too (and it was my fault). I was changing his diaper up on the couch. I finished buttoning him up, and I turned my head from him for (literally) 3 seconds, and he plopped over and off the couch! Thank goodness, he landed on his butt, but I was so scared. I'm sure many of you other moms/dads know what I mean, as it's the worst feeling, ever.

Oliver officially has two teeth! His bottom right tooth popped through on May 16. He teethed for just over a week, and he was so miserable I took him to urgent care because I didn't realize he was teething. Last Sunday, I thought his top left tooth broke through. Turns out, it was pushing against the gum so I could see it, but it didn't actually break through until today. The teething wasn't too terrible this time around. He drooled a lot, which irritated his chin, and he wouldn't let us touch his mouth. Now he's my little jack-o-lantern!

His solid food selection is rapidly expanding. As far as grains go, he's had baby rice cereal, baby oatmeal, and Cheerios (oats). For fruit, he's had apples, pears, bananas, and avocado. His favorite fruit is definitely bananas! For vegetables, he's had carrots, parsnip, sweet potatoes (he's coming around on those but still doesn't love them), peas, onions, and green beans. Of those, he really likes carrots, peas, and green beans. As for the meat group, Oliver has tried turkey, and he seems to like it (although he's not sure about the texture). He has had both jarred turkey and homemade turkey that Andrew's mom made for him. We still haven't given him much dairy, although is pediatrician gave the green light on it. His turkey dinner was made with a touch of butter, and he did OK with that. Today, for the first time, we gave him some baby yogurt. He liked it very much, but because it's higher in fat than anything else he's eaten before, he got full quickly. Thankfully, Andrew was around to eat the rest. Also, we gave him a little taste of our homemade mango sorbet (it just had mangos and limes with a little sugar and water), and he really loved it!

Cheerio halves are the only finger foods he's tried. He picks up the halves but has only gotten one into his mouth so far. I pop them in for him, and he loves them!

He's also kind of drinking water from a cup. Well, first, let me say, on the rare occasion he has a bottle, he drinks the milk himself. When I give him a cup of water, I hold onto it with him and help him tip it. He drinks it right up! Sometimes, when I let go, he drinks it just fine. Other times, he spills it everywhere, but he's definitely learning!

Oliver is sitting very well, but he's still not at a point where we could plop him down on the floor and walk away. When he has something against his butt, like my leg, he'll sit for 10 minutes or more. When he's completely on his own, I think his record is about 3 or 4 minutes before falling over or pushing himself forward.

Diaper changes are getting more exciting. First, he tries to roll everywhere, so it's hard to seal them. Then, when we do Velcro/stick the diaper (depending on if it's cloth or disposable), he undoes the seal! One day, it was hilarious: Andrew sealed one side and moved to the other. Oliver undid the first seal. Andrew went back to snap that one, and Oliver undid the other side, and so on and so forth. Yesterday, Andrew's parents watched Oliver for a couple of hours. Colleen had Oliver just in his cloth diaper. She let him play for a few minutes, and when she went back to him, he'd unsnapped and wiggled out of the diaper!

As for "talking," Oliver loves to say, "Momomomomom," and I pretend he's calling my name. He also coos and babbles to himself. I'd say his most common sounds are "Heh," "Meh," and "Yeah." The screeching has decreased drastically!

He smiles and laughs all the time now. Every time he looks us in the eye, he smiles. He smiles every time Andrew comes home. He smiles when we get to his crib when he wakes up (which is currently once at 2:30am and then up for the day around 6am). He laughs when we smooch his tummy or play with his feet, and he laughs sometimes when we make funny faces.


Finally, here are a list of his likes and dislikes for the month:

Likes:
*Mom
*Dad
*Playing with his feet
*Being naked
*Untying Andrew's shoelaces
*Nursing
*Looking at the ceiling fan
*Playing with the Wii mote or the remote (minus the batteries)
*Rolling around on the floor
*Playing with Ducky
*Throwing things
*Chewing on Tupperware
*Sitting out on the back porch with us
*Bananas
*Mango sorbet
*Getting his tummy smooched
*Having us pretend to eat his feet
*His jumparoo
*Playing "This Little Piggy"
*Bath time
*Costco
*"Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes"


Dislikes:
*Getting a shirt pulled over his head
*Being alone
*Loud noises
*Loud laughter