7 Months
A few updates for her 7th month! This past month has brought on many changes. I suppose that is something I am going to be saying each month for the first year or so, but she really has changed so much!
She has learned to sit up really well. I can leave her alone sitting when I leave the room, although I make sure she can't hit her head on anything on the way down! She doesn't cry or panic when she does fall, though. I always say "timber!" when she is on her way down, so she smiles! She has also started to learn to catch herself with her hand if she does lose her balance.
She is really almost crawling now (check out the cute video!). She gets up on all 4 and rocks back and forth. Her feet make the crawling motion, but her hands stay still. She gets enough momentum that she lunges herself foward and falls on her face! And then gets up on all 4s to do it all over again! She does kind of know how to army crawl (crawl while on her tummy), but she isn't moving anywhere fast. But she can get to what she wants. It's nice that she can get to the toys that she wants to play with! However, I'm nervous about all of the baby-proofing that still needs to be done. It's coming together. We've moved a lot out of the main living/dining room area. And I've moved all of the cats stuff (litter, food and water) into the back office so that they can eat and such in peace. We've tried to put the gate up, but they don't get it really. Wesley just whines and then after like 20 minutes jumps over it. Buttercup thinks we are punishing her, so her tail gets all big and she frieks out. So, we only put it up for a little bit after Kayla goes to bed. After a few more days of that, we'll keep it up all the time. I just want to make sure they aren't too afraid to go in there so they don't starve, or worse find another place to go to the bathroom!
She is also eating solids now, in full force! We are just feeding her once a day at dinnertime. She sits in her high-chair while we eat dinner and we feed her after that. She started out taking just 1 oz of food, but now is eating more like 3 each time (plus Cherios!). She self-feeds the Cherios, which has been hilarious to watch! The first time, she had all but 1 or 2 stuck in the pocket of her bib! But now, she's able to grab them with her fingers and shove them in her mouth much more efficiently. Now there are onlya few stuck in her bib! It's amazing to see how quickly she adapts to a new thing! She's had sweet potatos, bananas, avacado, Cherios, carrots, graham crackers, spaghetti squash and black beans (in that order). She's liked most everything - some more than others. She could eat only bananas and probably be quite content! In order to get her to eat carrots, it has to be mixed with something else! I usually mix it with the sweet potato, and it gets demolished. Someone suggested mixing it with peas. For whatever reason, I feel bad offering her peas... I mean, I HATE them, why should I make my kid eat them?! But to each their own. I've heard it's fun to watch them squish the peas (and by fun, it sounds really messy to me!). So, I'll probably add peas to the mix shortly. And green beans. She needs her greens (apparently). Most of these foods (other than the Cherios and crackers) are "pureed", however, I've been leaving lots of small chunks in things so she had quite a bit of texture. Ideally, I want her to be eating pieces of foods sooner rather than later. It seems like that might be easier, but at the same time, I'm enjoying making her food and feeding her. So, we'll see how we approach things. Her doctor is all about letting the child learn how to do things on their own, and we have a good friend who is doing child led feeding, and both of those sound like good ideas. I'm stuck between following rules (introduce only 1 new food every 3-4 days!) and a lack of google-knowledge about child led feeding (there is so much more info on feeding them purees and such first) that I'm hesitant to jump right in! But we are having fun with feeding, none-the-less!
1. Her eyes are still a pretty blue color
2. Her left tear duct is still plugged.
3. She cries real tears now, for sure. I do think this is something that has started recently. Now when she cries sometimes her face streams with tears, and this has not happened prior to the last week or two. She was crying in the car the other day, and when I got home her coat was all wet from the tears :( So pathetic!
4. She is majorly cutting down on her spitting up, although I am careful not to have her sit up for awhile after she eats.