Sitting Up

Michael is really good at sitting up...Here are some cute pictures!

More Mobility

As I mentioned in my 7 month update post, I mentioned that Michael is pulling things off of bookshelves and trying to pull up. Here are a few pictures from his adventures:

Trying to pull up on Michael's chair.

Getting into my books (he pulled this one off the shelf!)

Things that Make Michael Laugh

Here are some things that make Michael laugh....

Some of them are just obvious

But others are a little more strange....

Putting the keys into the lock almost always gets a giggle.

Walking down the hallway of our apartment complex, especially if it's a little breezy frequently gets a little screech!

Opening his chest of drawers...

And putting his blanket on him for naptime. Even if he has just about fallen asleep and I readjust the blanket over him...if he is just the tiniest bit conscious, he will giggle very sleepily. It's probably one of my favorite things to listen to.

Such a Big Boy :)

Michael is getting to be such a big boy...

...and one of the most recent accomplishments that he is especially proud of is taking out his pacifier and putting it back in his mouth all by himself! He does it over and over again.

It's great because if it falls out in bed and it is within his reach, he can put it back in all by himself and get back to sleep.

But...um...he hasn't got it quite right.

But clearly, that doesn't make him (or his Mommy) any less proud!

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.

A Year Ago Today

...(assuming you read this on Wednesday)...

We found out that we were having a boy! Wow. That is shocking. Thinking that there was a time as recent as a year ago that a) we didn't have Michael "on the outside" to play with and orient our whole selves towards but b) that there was a time in the pregnancy when we didn't know how to categorize Michael as a boy or a girl. Looking back at the pregnancy, to the very earliest of times, I now only think of him in terms of Michael doing those things.

Like when we couldn't hear the heartbeat with the Doppler device-thingy so we had to get an ultrasound...and when I got an ultrasound we saw the baby, but he was being perfectly still, not budging at all....it scared me! Then Michael Sr made me laugh and the baby woke up and started moving all around only to "look" (have his face toward the ultrasound machine) and then roll over with his back towards us as if to say "stop spying on me! I'm trying to sleep!" Seeing Michael roll over on his tummy every time he is going to sleep is SO MUCH like that moment. It was such a Michael thing to do!

And when we saw him sucking his thumb or just hanging out in there...of course...it was Michael! It was Michael doing those things just the way Michael would do them.

So, now that we know Michael, to imagine that a mere year ago, we weren't sure even what gender he was, let alone what is personality is like is so bizarre. We know him so well, it's hard to imagine a time when he was here, yet unknown. We hadn't even decided on a name on that day...we could have gone with a name other than "Michael." Can you imagine if Michael wasn't his name? I can't. He is a Michael through and through.

Ahh...one year ago, we got just a little bit more form to the mystery that would reveal itself on July 18th. But now, as we are just one week away from his 7th month, Michael is well-known to us, but his little personality keeps unfolding more and more each and everyday. He is just so.much.fun.

Michael has been doing funny things lately. He loves things he shouldn't have...like electrical cords. I've been having a hard time "motivating" him to start crawling. Every few days he'll really roll around, but for the most part, he doesn't travel around the room all that much (like his cousin Peter!). But if there is an electrical cord in sight, like for a lamp or a computer...he wants it. And he wants it bad.

But, he has this crawling thing a little backwards. Instead of getting on his tummy and crawling (like a normal baby....which Jack apparently has established that he may not be), he gets on his back and pushes his feet in the ground and scooches himself along that way.

Today, though, despite many protests to the tune of "Mom, just go get it for me!!" I did let him get his little workout on his own and I did see him at least trying to get on his tummy and move his hips to inch (hmm...more like "millimeter") his way to what he wanted. He didn't get there, in fact, I could be wrong, but he may have moved backwards...but eventually he just rolled on his tummy and found something else that he decided he really wanted more anyway. Really. He wasn't interested in that dumb ol' thing to begin with.

I am noticing that there is an element of frustration in his face. He wants to move. It's sad...like I want to just "make him crawl" but I can't. He has to do it himself...Yet at the same time, it's a promising sign because that's what's going to get him to move. Maybe I'm just reading too much into his face, but when he is on his tummy and propped up on his hands and looking at something he wants, there seems to be this real moment of concentration where he is trying to figure this process all out. He knows how to move his legs, he knows how to move his arms....but pulling it all together and moving in a direction that he intends to move is still just beyond his reach, and he knows it. If I can just stretch this idea a little further, I wonder if he can visualize getting somewhere, but can't actualize it. I don't know. It just seems like the look on his face says, "I'm an agile athelete trapped in a body that I can't operate fully yet!"

And when he finally figures it out....then Mom and Dad will have their hands full, I know. Cherish the days before he is fully mobile!

Other than that, what can I say? He is just a little sweetheart. We're really enjoying him.
His sleep is great! Straight through the night from 7pm to 6:30 am and naps are good, and actually consistently getting better still.

His eating is great (yeah, like anyone was concerned about that) and aside from an decreased tolerance for getting dressed, and penchant for loud shrieks (sometimes he shrieks because his bothered about something, and sometimes he just shrieks...among his less pleasing sounds that he makes....very hard on the ears and when accompanied with a pouty face, it smacks of whiny baby more than I am comfortable with, which automatically makes the "pity meter" plummet) but other than that he is just as pleasant tempered as I could ever hope for, and we just love him, love him to pieces.

Ok...so I promised myself I'd go to bed now, so off I go, but I've got a few more posts brewing...stay tuned!

Ooh. But here are some pictures.

Michael's expression is funny.

Waaaaay too much cute for one photo.

What is Peter doing?

With their cell phones from Grammy and Poppi.

I Should be Cleaning

It's Sunday.

I have people coming over in a few hours.

Michael is sleeping (and probably won't be for long!).

My apartment is in less-than-perfect condition.

I should be cleaning it.


But I'm not.

Instead, I'm sharing with you some snapshots of our day at the park.

Enjoy!