7

I didn't think life with Alex could get much better, but it seems that seven months is going to give six a run for its money.

Thursday is the dreaded "blood draw" appointment at the pediatric clinic. I'm not sure whether they'll bother to warm him up by getting his vitals or if they'll skip the small talk and go right to stabbing my poor baby with big, pointy needles. Oooooh, my poor, poor baby. Anyway, point being, I have no idea how much he has grown over the course of the last month and would not venture to guess, and Thursday's visit may or may not provide any answers either. If it does, however, I will be sure to let you all know.

Size: Although his precise height and weight are a mystery, I rarely strip him to his skivvies without exclaiming, "Geez, kid! You're humongous!!" As far as pants go, size 6-12 is fitting pretty perfectly in most cases, which means that by the time he's a year old, he should be wearing...let's see...30x34? Shirts vary from 6-9 to 6-12, and there are even a few 12-18's in his regular rotation these days. The size 3 shoe phase seems to be short-lived because a few of his 3's are already out of commission and he just started wearing them after Christmas.

Diapers. Uggghhhh. Who freakin' knows? He generally wears threes during the day, but has been known to pee through them after just a few hours. I tried switching brands from Pampers to Huggies, which seems to have helped a bit, but it still happens. At night I use fours because he pees through threes more than occasionally while he's asleep. Of course, I have to duct tape them to his body because they are still a little too big and have the tendency to leak if there is gappage, which inevitably causes Alex to wake up in the middle of the night and whine 'til I get up and change him. So basically, we are in an awkward diaper phase and I will be glad to move on.

Eating: My big boy has quite the repertoire when it comes to cuisine these days. He is eating three meals a day at typical meal times and a bottle before bed. Breakfast is one serving of either peaches, pears, or applesauce, while lunch and dinner are each comprised of half a green and half an orange, i.e. green beans and sweet potatoes, peas and carrots, green beans and carrots, or peas and taters. He loves it all, but I think I'd put peas and sweet potatoes on the top of his "favorites" list.

Each meal also includes somewhere between 5 and 6 ounces of formula, except for his final bottle before bedtime, which is 8 ounces. At our last doctor's appointment, Doc Silvey suggested that we start to acclimate him to drinking both water and formula from a sippy cup. He wasn't crazy about the cup he had, so we got a new one that he loooves, and he will lay on his Boppy and suck down the whole thing. It's soooo nice because I can hook him up with a cup of formula and he'll feed himself while I attend to other matters (like feeding Timothy).

Sleeping: Consistency still leaves something to be desired, but in general, Alex's sleep schedule is as favorable as it's been thus far. He wakes anywhere from 6:30am to 8 (although I did have to wake him at 8:45am last week when he went to bed late and decided to sleep in), takes a nap sometime between 9 and 10, and then another in the afternoon sometime between 1 and 2. Lately he's been flaking out on his afternoon nap and only sleeps for half an hour - which doesn't even count as a nap in my opinion. But dropping that dreaded third nap from the equation has made a world of difference. Between his second nap and bedtime, A can easily stay awake and happy for three to four hours, which is freakin' awesome and has done wonders for our social life. Now, we can make plans for the afternoon and don't have to worry about whether he's gonna spaz because he needs another nap. His bedtime routine starts around 6 and still includes a bath and bottle. On a typical night, he's in bed and asleep by 7.

Physical/cognitive milestones: So there have been a coupla new and exciting developments in the past month. He has one and a half teeth now, the first of which made its official debut about a month ago (right after he turned six months). A second little tooth is starting to move in right next door to that one and should be bustin' through any day now.

Another achievement as of late is going from belly-to-booty. This has been a recent development - in the past couple of days, in fact. When he gets tired of flopping around on his belly, he pulls his knees up, leans onto one hip, and scoots his hands back until he is in a sitting position.



The next step has got to be crawling. Ooh, my baby is itchin' to crawl and he is oh so close. He spends most of his time on all fours, but he has yet to figure out that he needs to move his arms and not just his knees. He has a rather ungraceful way of getting where he wants to go, one which includes full-blown adult pushups (he can officially do more than his father and I put together) and belly flops. It's inefficient, but it works!

He has, however, mastered the art of backing up. He can cross the room - in reverse - in no time flat. Of course, until I have rearview mirrors installed on the sides of his head, he can't see where he's going and ends up in weird places. Like his toy box.

He is rarely still, whether he is on the floor, in his jumperoo, or in his walker.



The bathtub is no exception. He flops around in that thing like a fish, which creates a lot of work for those of us that would prefer he didn't drown. A couple of nights ago, he discovered that the side of his tub is quite tasty, and that the most effective way to taste it is to lie on his belly and hang his head over the side (to the prudes in the crowd: please pardon the baby booty).

His personality...what a funny little booger. And he knows it. He still loves to hear himself talk and continues to reveal new sounds on a daily basis. Ba-ba's and da-da's are still in the mix, with the occasional (possibly accidental) ma-ma thrown in. Since birth, he has always amused us with his wacky facial expressions, and that certainly hasn't changed.

You've got the usual:

And the unusual:

And the...:

Okay, that's too good. We gotta see that again:

He craves attention and thrives in it. All it takes is a goofy face, a silly sound, a simple glance in his direction and he is elated. He can be precocious at times, but I think he is really just starting to realize that certain behaviors elicit certain responses. Like, if my high-pitched whine is annoying enough, Mom'll get my dinner to me a little faster. He's right, it does work. Smart little booger. He's also showing signs that he is starting to comprehend what we are saying and will try to imitate us when we make funny sounds or gestures. He has started to wave and give high fives, and he's even starting to sing! Sometimes when we sing to him, he will squeal in a high, off-pitched voice that bears a hint of a melody (so I guess it's me he's imitating).



And boy, does he looooove his Murphy pup. If I ask him where Murphy is, he'll whip his head back and forth looking for him. When he finally does spot him, he squeals in delight and calls him "ba-ba". I think Murph relishes the attention, although he is very careful to stay out of petting (aka hair-pulling) range.

He loves to flop around on the floor and play, and he will entertain himself for long periods of time with toys, electrical cords, paper - whatever he can get his hands on. He is finally starting to "get" some of his toys and use them for their intended purpose, which is a really neat process to watch.



He loves "peek-a-boo", aka "Where's alex? There he is!" Again, anything that puts him in the center of attention makes his day.

We still think he is the cutest, smartest kid in the whole world. I guess we could be biased. But we're not.