Jenson update: Seven Months Old

Jenson is a wonderful, beautiful, happy, lovey 7 month old (though now 7.5 months).  He’s eating now (and loves it), sitting and playing, babbling, and just being perfect (other than his sleeping).  This update includes what he was doing through his 7th month – and he’s advanced even more since then.

Monthly Jenson update:  April 6 – May 5, 2014

• Age:  7 months (though posted 20 days late)
• Weight:  15 lbs, 8 oz. at 6 months and around 16 lbs, 15 oz. by 7 months
• Length:  26 inches.
• Size:  He’s in 3-6 months for outfits, but they are getting short, 6 months Carter’s brand fits him best right now, and some 6-9 month sleepers, depending on brand.  He’s growing out of everything lengthwise, except pants (he wore a pair of 3 month jeans for his 6 month photos!) – he has a long torso, so that’s where things get small on him.
  
• Diapers:  Cloth diapers, except at night.  Our favorites seem to be Best Bottoms and Flips, and then Bum Genius Freetime for when he’s going to be in it for longer and we want him to feel dry against his skin.  He wears disposables at night and wearing size 2, though he’s close to being done with that size (he blows them out if he poos in them sometimes).
• Hair and Eyes: He has so much hair now – it’s really filled in.  His eyes are more grayish blue now, and so big and bright.
• Teeth: None still, though I’ve been expecting them for months now.  He chews on anything he can get in his mouth, but has been doing this for months.
• Sleeping: His sleep was still terrible this month. He always woke up at least twice, often more times, and would usually end up in our bed sometime after 4:30 a.m., where he’d fall right to sleep, perfectly happy.  While I love waking up to his face, I hate having the covers down around my waist (so they aren’t near his face), and I hate waking up constantly to check to see that he’s safe.  He started seeming ready for bed between 7:30 and 8:30 now, but he almost always wakes around 12 a.m. (often WHILE I’m pumping) and won’t go back to sleep without nursing – he’ll scream until he’s choking.  We’ve tried a few methods to try to get him back to sleep in the night, but without much success.  We haven’t been able to let him cry more than 3 minutes (#pushovers), so I don’t think cry-it-out is an option for us.  We didn’t want to push any sleep training too hard because he could be teething and we were getting ready to go on vacation anyway.  He likes the Cloud B Turtle Constellation Nightlight (and the frog one he has), and sometimes he’ll stop crying if I turn that on, and we’ve given his a small Aden + Anias security blanket that he’ll play with.  I wore it in my shirt for an evening so it would smell like me and he seems to like it.  Oh well, we’ll figure something out hopefully. (Edited before posting: we’ve had a slight breakthrough with his sleeping after vacation, but it’s still not great).
• Eating:  We started Baby Led Weaning very slowly during his 6th month.  After a few days he started to get pretty interested and grabbing for anything we were eating or drinking.  We still only give him food once a day, and not even every day, because breastmilk should provide the bulk of his nutrition for the first year and he’s just experimenting with food right now.  So far he’s had carrot, avocado, rice cereal (to help with stomach bug), sweet potatoes, and green beans – and he’s liked everything so far.  Sometimes we put the food in a mesh or silicone feeder so we don’t have to worry about him choking on pieces, but often let him gum the actual pieces.  He loves feeding himself – if he’s eating something that needs to be on a spoon, he wants to hold the spoon.  He does well enough to get it to his mouth.
• Movement:  He sits up very steady and independent now.  He can play with toys while sitting and pass things from hand to hand.  We’ve started making him roll over more, but sometimes it still seems like he doesn’t know what to do!  He pulls his knees up under his butt when he’s on his stomach, but hasn’t starting trying to crawl yet.  He’ll grab our fingers and either pull himself to sitting, or will sometimes want to pull up to stand instead.  He’ll wiggle himself completely sideways in his crib at night within minutes sometimes.
  
• Words & Sounds:
  He babbles constantly now, with his favorite consonant being Da da, though he doesn’t seem to relate that to Lo yet.  He also say Ba, Ff, Ga.  He laughs a lot when we tickle him or make funny faces or sounds, but especially when we act like we are eating his legs or feet.  He’s still fairly quiet when he’s in new situations or around a group of people, but he’ll eventually start talking and making noise once he gets comfortable.
• Milestones:
  – First flu: he had a stomach virus that lasted about 3-4 days.  Lo got it too.
  – First Easter and first visit to the zoo. He slept most of the time, but did wake up to meet a bunny and see a few animals.
  
  – First foods! Started with carrots, and also had rice cereal, green beans, avocado, and sweet potatoes.  He’s liked everything.
  – Drinks water from a sippy cup. He doesn’t hold it himself and often lets the water run out of his mouth, but he loves it.
  – Had his upper lip tie and posterior tongue tip lasered at Dr. Notestine’s office in Beavercreek.  He’s one of the best in this part of the country and one of the only who uses a laser instead of cutting, so it’s easier healing and sedation isn’t required.  Jenson was pretty sore for a day or two after, but healed quickly and is better than ever now.  Right after the procedure:
  
  – First bath in the real bathtub.  He sat in the bath ring, which made it hard to clean him.  We went back to sink baths, but now that he’s sitting up so well, we may try to sit him in a laundry basket for one of his baths soon.  That way he’ll be able to play with toys, but it will be easier to move him around to wash him.
  
  – First time sitting in the grass.  He was pretty mesmerized by it and wouldn’t look up at the camera.
  
  – Saying consonants – especially da, dada, ba, ff, ga
  – Falls asleep on his own in crib at night.  He rarely gets himself back to sleep when he wakes at night, but we’ll work on it
• Favorite Toys/Activities:
  – Sitting up and playing
  – Watching Boof.  He lights up when he sees her, and now that he’s eating, she’s more interested in him too.
  
  – Having his picture taken.  He’s a total poser now.  If he sees the camera, he smiles and waits for you to take his picture.
  
  – Hanging out in the carrier: we got a new Kinderpack, so it’s comfy for either of us to wear him for long periods of time.  It was a big investment, but worth it.
  
  – Zombie baby: he yells and bites at my face when he’s hungry.  He’ll try to suck on my chin or nose.
  – Chewing on his pacifier – he doesn’t usually want to suck on it unless he’s going to sleep or is upset, but he likes to chew on the side of it.
  – Enjoys looking at pictures on the fridge of friends and family – especially babies.
  – He loves it when we sing to him, whether they are real or fake songs
  – Likes laying in his crib looking/listening to his crib mobile and also seeing the stars projected on the ceiling from his twilight turtle
  – He loves kisses (thank goodness!), and have him cheeks, chin, and neck stroked lightly.
  – He loves to grab his feet, whether he’s sitting, or laying on his back.
• Dislikes:
  – Rolling over.  He doesn’t mind being on his stomach usually, but he doesn’t really try to roll over much
  
  – Putting on or taking off his onesie/clothes
  – Sleeping.  He either hates it or is just not good at it.  Same result.