6 to 7 Months: Baby Steps to Big Changes

April 12, 2014

Dear Babies

Oh my gosh! You guys have teeth! After so many months of gummy smiles it seems like a very strange concept. Actually, teeth included, this has been a very big month for you guys! All your exciting changes are just in time for spring. Unfortunately, true to Calgary, it does not feel like spring but it will come eventually. Ignore the snow storms in the meaning time... More snowfall today. Everything is brown and mucky without the snow anyway. At least the huge snow banks are gone so we can go for easier walks. We found out that the Sobeys is only 20 minutes away and this makes grocery shopping a little more fun and manageable instead of trying to load you two into the car and then juggle a stroller and a cart.

We also took our first trip to the zoo and that was a super fun outing. We walked around and saw the animals that were out, though I think if anything caught your guys attention it was the fish tank in the gorilla house. Half way through the outing Evan passed out in the stroller and missed saying goodbye to the elephants (as they are moving to a new zoo) and exploring the butterfly house, where Alice enjoyed looking at all the green. This is a new color for you guys as you arrived in fall and have suffered this very snowy winter. I am excited for you to see more green. And now we have an active zoo pass so we can go lots! Best shower present ever!

Ok, let me see if I can cover all the new things you guys did!

 EVAN... On March 17th you surprised everybody by popping out your first two bottom teeth. I honestly did not expect them to come in so suddenly; we couldn't really tell that you were even teething. I was putting you to bed and was shocked when I felt this sharp, hard nub in you mouth. It was very exciting! You have also started to experiment more with sounds and right now you mostly are enjoying spitting/farting noises, much to your Dad's amusement. You often do this as you play in your jumperoo or are on the change table. And perhaps you have finally grown tired of your Slug-O nickname as you started to do more sit ups while you are reclining in your bouncer, you became very proficient at getting off of your tummy, and finally, the day before you turned 7 months old, you figured out how to roll on to your tummy! It was the most exciting thing and I was so so proud of you!! I think you

knew it too and seemed very pleased with yourself. There has also been some assisted sitting and now you can tripod sit quite well as long as you stay focused and don't try to pick any toys up. Mostly you like to play with your crinkle book or a good teething ring, but your favorite thing is a snuggly blanket... Any blanket will do. You love to hug and suck on them, any time really, you even pull up your play mats and quilts. You have even learned how to play peek-a-boo by covering your eyes with a blanket by yourself. You think this is great fun and also enjoy it when we just look away and then back at you with a 'boo.' You are easily startled but really seem to enjoy the surprise. You have decided Mommy's boobs are no longer satisfactory and will only breast feed in the morning and just before bed, and sometimes not even then. You prefer bottles and love eating solids. Banana and yam flavors are your favorites so we hide greens in them. Sneaky Mommy win!
 

 

ALICE... You love to sit up! Rolling over and laying down is so yesterday. I am slowly beginning to be less nervous about you falling over, and two bruises later you seem to have mastered balancing. Even when in your bouncy chair you want to sit, making strapping you in very necessary (one bruise was from tumbling forward in this chair) even though you can still fold yourself over to play with the legs of the chair while tied down. You are super flexible and like folding yourself in half this way to play with your toes. Meal times are even more fun when toes are involved. I mostly still feed you guys in your bouncy chairs because the incline keeps most of the food going in your mouth but we are slowly doing more meals at the table. Dinner time with daddy is pretty fun. We just increase to three meals a day and so far you guys are still pretty eager for the solids. Alice, you will taste anything and everything. I don't think there's a flavor you don't like. You really enjoy handling your own food but since this is counter productive to consuming food we are trying to get you use to letting us handle your spoon. You are so quick and strong at grabbing things and then we have to wrestle the spoon from your hands. It's still a rather messy business, but we are getting better and don't always need a bath after every meal.
That's good because it was a lot of baths! We still get to use the sink but you love to play with the faucet and have even sprayed Mommy a couple times, much to your delight. The big bath is coming your way soon! Now that you have such good balance you are getting better at reaching for the things you want... Which is either what your brother has at the time, or your crinkle book or plastic keys. You love exploring new toys and like to sit in your high chair watching the making of dinner or your baby food while you get to play with fun kitchen things like whisks and measuring spoons. Sometimes you even get to chew on an apple, yam, or broccoli stick. That's the best! Your favorite sounds this month are Ds for dadada (Daddy loves this), humming, and wrinkling your nose while snuffing and pursing your lips to show displeasure. It's really hard to take you seriously when your angry face is so cute! You also are not keen on breastfeeding during the day, but you still occasionally do it. Oh yeah, and on April 4th you got your two bottom teeth! Also, you finally figured out how to consistently get off your tummy. Got to keep up with your brother, right?

THE FOOD SITUATION: Mommy's milk supply is dwindling these days... Use it or lose it I guess. It is bittersweet because I really did enjoying feeding you guys. It was a nice time to sit and relax and it made you guys so happy (most of the time). However, I will not deny that is was stressful when you guys didn't want to feed and I was always worrying about whether you were consuming enough or if I was making enough, and the in between times of engorgement or leaking was a real pain. So for good or bad, all that business is coming to an end.

I'm such a creature of habit and the shift from breastfeeding to solids has really made me see that motherhood is going to stretch my adaptability to change. It seems every month we lose something, like putting away tiny baby sleepers, only to gain the next step, trying all different flavors of food. And although I will miss each month that we leave behind I am so excited for all the things ahead. Soon there will be crawling... Haven't baby proofed yet but at least I installed the cat door!

Weights: Evan 15.3lbs Alice 15.3lbs