Tony and Thor at the market. 

7 MONTHS

You're a little over 7 months old now. Not a whole lot new to report, except that you are furiously trying to crawl. You still don't quite have it down yet, although if you really want to move to get something you can do it, with lots of concentration. You don't move up on your hands and knees, although you can easily get up on all fours. You scootch and squirm on your belly, reaching out with all your might to get the phone or the TV controller or whatever piques your interest.

I turned 29 on Saturday and we went out to stay in a yurt on the coast. You had lots of fun. Spent lots of time outside in the Snugli and on a blanket on the floor of the yurt. You also spent lots of time in your carseat as it was a four hour drive there and back. The way there you were fine, but on the way back you were tired of it. I don't blame you!

You are very unpredictable as far as sleeping goes. One night you'll sleep great, the next night you'll wake up at 2am bright eyed and bushy tailed. Whew! It's hard sometimes! You are such a little fireball -- you have a hard time turning your brain and body off. That and you're teething like crazy -- your fourth one came in about a week ago. The bottom left incisor. Those top two front teeth still aren't here, but I'm sure that will be soon. They're swollen and white, just about ready to pop through. That contributes a lot to your occassional fussiness and sleeplessness. Dad and I are just trying to roll with it, knowing that "this too shall pass."

New pictures soon!

6 1/2 MONTHS

You'll be crawling soon! You can now get up on your knees and rock back and forth. You also growl or grunt while doing this, so it's pretty funny. You also do a funny thing where you get up on your toes, and lift your whole body off the ground. It's exactly what the yoga "plank" pose is, if anyone is familiar with yoga poses. It's a difficult pose to do! You've got to have a lot of upper body strength, so I'm always impressed when you attempt it. You can scoot yourself a little bit, by pushing backwards, and you roll around a lot, so when I set you down you're always in a little different place when I pick you up. But you aren't really mobile yet. Not that surprising, though. In our 6-9 month baby group, out of 25 babies, the only ones who are crawling are 8 months or over.

You can sit on your own for very short periods of time, but not without my supervision or you topple right over. This you'll probably do later than most babies, because you are so long. Your doctor said that tall babies have so much body to balance that it takes them longer to figure it out. I do wish you'd do that soon, though, because you get tired of playing on your belly or back.

You've become very attached to dad and I. This is a good thing, though (see theory of Attachment Parenting). You are incredibly responsive to hugs, touch, and verbal responses. You are very easy to soothe when you get upset for any reason. You love to be rocked, and can be rocked to sleep very quickly -- although putting you down is still difficult. I've taken to putting your small carseat in the living room and lying you in that for naps the last couple days. For some reason you much prefer to be set there rather than flat on a bed. I think it's because you feel secure because of the shape of the carseat. You don't instantly wake up, like you do if I normally try to lay you down.

You are still a highly energetic, alert baby. You can be difficult to please sometimes -- it seems you are always wanting some form of entertainment. Lying still and quiet and playing with your toys is not something that is in your nature. You want to be held, taken outside, played with, sung to, carried in your sling, or held and nursed.

You have a third tooth -- you just got it a couple days ago. I have a feeling there will be two or three more very soon as well. This tooth that is just coming in is your upper lateral incisor. If you look on this chart, it is the left #2 (top). I thought it was strange that you're not getting the front top teeth yet but I'm sure they'll be soon. I can tell that your teeth really bother you all the time. You drool profusely and are always trying to bite on something. I think that's what causes much of your night waking, too, although you generally don't seem to be in too much pain at night. You wake about three times a night, now, for only a couple minutes each time. Quite normal for a baby your age. (Although last night you woke up at 12:30am WIDE awake and didn't go back to sleep until 2:30am!!). That's rare, though, thank goodness.

You're a sweet, sweet baby and I enjoy your non-stop, clinging company!