Ahh...Seven Months

Can you believe it?

Yesterday, it has been 7 months!

This past month has gone by so FAST! I feel like I was just writing his sixth month update (but maybe I wrote that late...I forget)...

Well, a really enjoyable thing I've just started doing involves Michael's nap routine.

We had a good routine, we were consistent and everything we were supposed to be, but I found it still took Michael a REALLY long time to settle down in his bed and finally go to sleep. He would do it, but only after about 40 minutes of being a little bucking bronco in his bed, and umpteen trips in there to resituate him and put the pacifier back in.

Part of routine has for quite some time, been reading a book. And I noticed while I was reading, he would be very calm. Then, after the story was done and left for him to settle himself on his own, that's when his romping would begin and it was a while before he finally got to bed. But as long as I was in there reading, he was calm.

I then wondered, "what would happen if I just kept reading?"

So I tried it. And the CUTEST thing happened.

I was reading from Mickey's Book of Bedtime stories (which contains apocryphal tales of Disney movies and cartoons, stuff you didn't know happen, like how Mickey met Pluto, and Cinderella putting the mice to bed) and instead of just reading one story, I read two and halfway through the second story, I looked up only to see Michael totally passed out. He just fell asleep while I was reading! And he stayed asleep for an hour after that! Looking up and seeing him so peaceful...seriously, it was an image I will not soon forget.

So, I tried it again and again, and most times (except for his evening nap which he only takes about 30% of the time anymore) it only took a story and a half before he drifted off to sleep very peacefully.

It doesn't always yield a longer nap. It is normally still 30 minutes, but it does yield a pretty enjoyable, peaceful drifting off which I enjoy. I do find him napping longer more frequently, so I'm pretty sure there must be a connection between his going to sleep quickly and peacefully versus after 40 minutes of fighting it off.

I've discovered that I don't always have to read children stories either. Because, let's face it, if I am reading two stories per nap, it is not that many days before I've gone through them all. So long as I read outloud, it doesn't matter to him what I read, so I've been getting good reading in too! I thought it would be a big time stealer but it's pretty quick, usually about 15 minutes of reading, and since it sometiems gets him to sleep longer, it is well worth it.

It is just so cute to watch him drift off! Today even, he fell asleep in a position that looked uncomfortable, so after he fell asleep, I picked him up and moved him and he just made soft little sleeping noises and kind of chuckled when i tucked the blanket around him again but stayed asleep the whole time. It was really, really cute.

Wow, so anyways, we are in a sleep phase that I am enjoying and it is not stressful. It's great! He sleeps straight through the night almost all the time ( an occasional call in the middle to replace a pacifier, but even that is becoming more rare), and good naps.

Other things Michael is doing:

* He is continuing to do well sitting up on his own. He still falls a lot, but is able to stay sitting much longer than before.

* He wants to pull himself up, but is still quite a ways from being able to do that. But the desire is there.

* He "sidewinds" his way to stuff (usually a cord of some kind). He doesn't army crawl yet, but instead rolls onto one side and then moves his up, then rolls to the other side and moves the other hip up and gets some good forward motion.

* He is rolling all over the place. Setting him down in the middle of our family room, and he'll be at every corner in no time. He pulls books off the bookshelves and tries to get at anything that resembles a cord.

* He is babbling a lot and discovering lots of noises he likes to make. Loudly. Which has gotten us into trouble. People in classes don't like it so much, and being used to hearing it all day, and much less phased by it (and since he isn't crying, such making random exlamations), I haven't been as prompt at removing him from places as people want. So, we've gotten into a little trouble that way. That's been hard, but it has led to the conclusion, especially now that he wants to spend more time rolling around, that we need to spend less time at work and more time at home where he can be a 7 month old and his mom can enjoy his being a 7 month old without having to take him outside (especially in the weather we've been having) or without having to worry about being called "rude" or "inconsiderate" as we've gotten. I knew this time would come, and as much as I love to teach classes, I love being with Michael, and being silly with him and playing with him and letting him be goofy and silly infinitely times more. There are other teachers to teach, but I am Michael's only mommy and this is the only time in his life where we are going to go through this phase together. So after I got past the hurt feelings of what I felt was a low level of tolerance (but people can hardly be blamed to want a quiet environment for their class), I am now glad to be "off the hook" from having to bustle him here and there so we can just enjoy playtime together.

* He is a very happy kid and likes to laugh and smile. He is very easy going, very friendly with people, and SO expressive of his love of his Daddy (and Mommy gets plenty of smiley rewards too)...it's neat to see he really likes being around us.

* He is still a champion eater. He, so far, hasn't turned his nose up at anything we've offered him. He likes green beans the LEAST, even though he ate them, but I don't think we'll do those again any time soon. Weighing in at his last visit at 19lbs 9oz, at 26.5 inches, he is at average in every category (just a tad below average in height) so while he looks tubby, he is "normal" in that regard.

* He has in the past few weeks just seemed to grow overall in his awareness and understanding of things. I can't really describe it, but Michael gets our little rhythm in the Barber household, and he goes along well with it. He definitely feels like my little buddy who I love having around with me and who really responds and contributes his own personality.

* He is getting curls in his hair and it is SOOOOOO cute.

Well, I haven't uploaded recent pictures from my camera, but here is one singing when we were at the park a while ago.