Our baby is getting to be so "grown up". He is constantly moving, so alert, "talking" all the time and isn't afraid to let you know his opinion. He's definitely turned a corner into becoming a toddler!
Here's a little bit about Charlie this month:
- He is wearing size 3 diapers and 9 month, 9-12 month, 12 month and 12-18 month clothes. He is soooooo long in length
- His thumbs are double jointed!!! As John and I were watching him play the other day, we noticed that his thumbs could bend really far back. One day this past week, I decided to see how far back his thumbs would actually go and I discovered that he was able to bend them so far back because they pop in and out of place!!!! It is the craziest thing and I've never seen (or felt) anything like it!
- Charlie is definitely a mama's boy. When it comes to eating and sleeping, he wants his mama. While this melts my heart and I absolutely love it, it does make it a bit difficult at night when John is trying to put him to bed and I'm working on other things.....because he just screams!
- He is starting to say "ma"
- He loves chewing on his toes
- He's very ticklish when you change his diaper.....and he has started fighting diaper changes by wanting to roll over
- He loves looking in mirrors
- His burps and gas are loud...like grown man loud
- He prefers to sleep in footless PJs
- He must know where Mellany and Johnny are at all times
- Charlie is very alert and attentive
- He should be getting a tooth any day....he is chewing on his Sophie the Giraffe like crazy (as with just about anything else he can get his little gums on), drooling all over the place and somewhat fussy every now and then at random times where you know it just has to be pain from his mouth.
- His first pretty serious illness came this month when he developed Hand, Foot and Mouth Disease. He had sores in his mouth and reached a fever of 102. He was absolutely miserable! And of course this was this same time his Uncle Brad, Aunt Mae Mae and Capri came to visit.
- He tries to grab EVERYTHING!! (Including the little hairs on the back of your neck and the base of your hairline!)
- He loves watching Johnny play with cars and trucks.
- He doesn't mind being in the car seat as long as you are going somewhere in the car or have him picked up. If he's just sitting in the car seat, he's not happy.
Sleeping:
Sleeping has improved 100% from last month!! He is only waking up once a night to eat (usually around 3:30). The gas and burping "episodes" have faded and only taken place maybe a couple times a week. He has transitioned to two naps a day (one in the morning and one in the afternoon....and in his bed) for the most part and will fall alseep at night around 8:00. Around 7:00am he will wake up ready to eat and start the day.
When he sleeps, he prefers to sleep at an incline, on his belly. As you rock him to sleep he likes to lay his head on a burp cloth or blanket on your chest; then when you put him into his bed, you keep the cloth/blanket under his head so he is laying on it. He also likes to have a pretty thick blanket to cover up and wrapped snug around him.
Words cannot express how refreshed I feel! And I feel like Charlie's demeanor is much more content and happy.....amazing what a full nights sleep will do!
Eating Habits/New Foods:
Bottles: 4 ounces every 3 hours with 2T of oatmeal.....Occasionally he will take 6 ounces and actually keep it down, but most of the time that I feel like he wants the additional 2 ounces I am wrong and he spits it all back up.
New Foods!!: Pears, Apples, Sweet Potatoes, Peas, Oatmeal with cinnamon and pears .....Charlie LOVES sitting in the high chair and eating actual food like the rest of us. I would say next to playing on the floor, this is the place he is happiest. He is doing a really great job eating the food too. Most of the time he won't eat very much (maybe an ounce) but he does like it.
The spit-up continues.....the constant laundry continues....and now he's even spitting up baby food (it's awful!!). Spitting up the baby food doesn't seem to bother him (just like spitting up the formula doesn't bother him most of the time) but the smell is just as bad and now there's color added to it....
New Discoveries:
His voice! He has discovered that when he gets mad, he can scream even louder than he was before! He is definitely a boy with a temper! It's actually pretty comical.
Accomplishments:
He's so close to sitting up all by himself and he has perfected rolling over and "circling" on his belly. Just in the last week, he has started pulling his legs up under himself like he's going to crawl. So I would imagine that by the time he turns 8 months, he will be sitting and crawling all by himself!
Places:
Mellany & Johnny's preschool, Mellany's ballet, church, bible study, Meijer, Kids Club at the gym, McDonald's, the bank, O'Charley's, the Mall, Purdue Parent's Night Out, Johnny's soccer practice
Special Memories:
Snuggling with him during his first illness....the poor guy was miserable and I felt terrible for him, but I so loved the snuggles!
7 Month Photo Shoot
Charlie was not a happy camper during this "session".....he was definitely using his "angry cry"
