Growing Graham: 7 Months

Graham is one busy, high-energy kid. He's also extremely happy and silly and makes us laugh every day.

He is completely mobile now. At about 6 and a half months old, he crawled on purpose (before that he had crawled but didn't realize it and couldn't do it again) and he hasn't stopped crawling since. Then, two weeks after officially crawling, he already pulled himself up on furniture by himself so he can stand. If he can, he climbs the furniture too. We've had to drop his crib mattress down to the lowest setting because we caught him trying to climb out of it the other day. Did I mention that he's only just 7 months old?! It's like he can't wait to walk, and at this rate he will pretty soon. 

Along with crawling and climbing, he's been getting bruises from falling and bumping into things too. He had three bruises on his forehead at one time. But he's already learning how to prevent a lot of that too! He's gone from falling and bumping his head to falling into a sitting position so that his head never even comes close to the floor. He's a smart baby!

As with any baby his age, Graham loves to put things in his mouth. But sometimes it's just hilarious when/what he does. The other day he was crawling around on the floor in front of the couch. There was a pillow propped up against the ottoman, and the corner of it just happened to be the same height as his mouth. As he was crawling past it, he turned his face to it, looked at it for a second, then tried to latch onto it for a moment like it was a bottle. Then, since it didn't produce anything, he unlatched, looked at it confusedly, and tried again. After the second time, he decided that it was useless so he continued crawling past it.

He's a fantastic, although particular (but not picky), eater. He knows not to grab the spoon when we're feeding him, and I even like to set the container of baby food that I'm feeding him on his tray. So far he leaves it alone while he's eating. But he eats a lot. And very fast. At any given meal, he'll eat two or more full containers worth of baby food! But you'd never know because he's still so skinny. As soon as I've given him one spoonful, I have to immediately be getting the next one ready. If I'm taking too long to get that next spoonful, he gets upset and starts crying. He'll also cry if there's not enough on the spoon or if the food is too watery. And I haven't fed him anything he didn't like yet. However, if I feed him a sweet fruit first, he has a hard time eating green beans or peas afterward. Something about the flavors, perhaps... 

Graham also talks up a storm. He babbles constantly to his toys, crawls around blowing raspberries nonstop (and his latest development is blowing raspberries while crying), and when he finds a tiny piece of paper or a shoelace he focuses on it really hard as he carefully examines it with his fingers and he makes a steady "ehhhh" sound. We call it his concentrating sound. It makes us laugh or smile every time.

He's very opinionated. If I set him on the floor when he doesn't want me to he'll look up at me and whine. If it's nap time and he doesn't want to take a nap, he dramatically throws his head backward, arches his back, stiffens his legs, and flails his arms about while screaming/crying. This one is especially fun to deal with while holding him. He'll also throw that tantrum when we're changing his diaper, all the while trying to roll over and crawl away. It sure made us learn how to change his diapers quickly. 

Toys that involve laws of physics entertain Graham the most. We have this random yellow ring that we'll spin on the wood floor, and he sits and watches it intently until it stops. Sometimes he'll yell at it until we spin it for him again. Then he'll pick it up and play with it. If there's any toy that will spin or roll or demonstrate any law of physics like that, he loves it!

He's so small that we had to stuff his blanket and whatever else we could behind him to keep him in place.

He loves to be outside. When he gets cranky we'll take him outside for a few minutes and it usually settles him down completely.Graham loves to go on walks. He usually needs one walk in the morning before napping and then some more outdoor time before his afternoon nap. I like to just sit in the backyard with him. He'll sit very still for a long time, and just look around, taking in all the sights and sounds. He loves trees and leaves, birds, airplanes, flowers, long sprigs of grass, and the sunshine. Usually he'll go right to sleep afterward, though sometimes his naps are only 20 minutes long. If we wait too long to take him outside, he gets really cranky. This boy needs the outdoors like his daddy does. He's keeping us healthy and active already!

I can't believe how fast Graham's growing up! We're excited to see more of his personality as he get older, but we're trying so hard to savor and enjoy every moment while he's still a baby because it's going by so quickly. We sure love him!