seven months














Dear Emmett,

Today you are seven months old. Your changes in the last month have been so extraordinary, it's almost as if there was an invisible barrier holding you back, and it was lifted at six months. Your will is strong and displayed often. If you want something, you go after it. You reach for it, you scoot toward it, you pick it up, you try to fit it in your mouth. Even if it's the dryer. Or the bathtub. If you want me, you reach for me. If you don't want me, you push me away. If you don't know what you want, you do both at the same time.

If you are sitting and you want to stand, you hold your arms out and shake them excitedly until I give you my fingers to hold so you can pull yourself up. If it's over 90 degrees outside and the little bits of water you're getting from the end of a straw are not enough, you claw your way to the bottle until we let you take regular sips. If Nana is on the phone talking to you on speaker, you wrestle me with all your little might to get your hands on that phone. If I'm feeding you the smoothie we often share for breakfast with a spoon, you whine and holler at me until I let you drink out of a cup like I do.

There are so many new kid things you are doing all at once, I find myself studying you. I am trying to commit to memory all the sweet baby things you do so I won't forget. Like your little baby yawn. Already you are starting to yawn more often like a kid instead of like an infant. I am trying to memorize the way you wrinkle your little nose in anticipation when you are about to start drinking a bottle. And the way your little hand grips my thumb so tightly while you eat. You are capable of holding your own bottle, but you'd much rather hold my hand.

I want to remember that when we are playing on the floor, you will suddenly drop your toy and reach for me, to make sure I'm still right there. I won't forget the way you cross your ankles and rub your feet together when you're sitting in the stroller. Or the way you always grab your toes when you're on the changing table.

You are growing up right in front of my eyes, and it is so exciting. A few days ago, you learned to pick up the Cheerios off your highchair tray by yourself and then feed yourself. You grinned ear to ear the first time you got it right; you were so proud. I grinned, too. I was so proud.

Though this month has been so exciting, it has also had its rough patches. About two weeks ago, for the first time since you were nine weeks old, you started getting up during the night. You ran a low fever, got a little congested, and you gnawed ferociously on anything and everything. You were whiny, cranky and generally restless. A couple of days later, on June 12, your right bottom front tooth broke through! Things settled down for a couple days, and then it all started again. This time the whining and waking up in the night was worse (every half hour at least for two nights in a row) . It was rough on all of us, but then finally the bottom left tooth came in on June 17.

A couple days later, you got your first cold. And promptly passed it on to daddy and me. We've all been congested, coughing, eyes watering for a few days now. You're feeling much better, and hopefully we are about done with it, too. You handled it fairly well. The worst of it was not being able to use your pacifier much because of the nasal congestion, so you had some trouble getting to sleep. You're a resilient and adaptable baby, though, and we got through it just fine.

We've been playing with you on your belly a lot, to try and see if you'll start moving. There's not been much progress, except that you'll stay on your hands and knees briefly if we put you there, rock back and forth a bit, and then flop back onto your belly. I know this means crawling is coming, but you haven't quite figured it out.

If yesterday's discovery is any indication, though, it won't be long. I left you on your belly on a blanket and walked over to the computer. I listened to you play and whine a little while I checked email and facebook. I noticed it got strangely silent, so I leaned over to check it out. You had scooted backward off the blanket about three feet and turned yourself sideways.

Time to start baby proofing!

Love,
Mama

2 comments:

maresi said...

That boy is perfect.

Empty Arms, Broken Heart said...

I teared up a bit when reading this. Emmett is such a sweet precious baby boy and he is so fortunate to have such a loving mama. I hope someday he reads these monthly updates and realizes how loved he has been!! And this picture makes me want to pinch (gently) his sweet chunky cheeks!! How blessed you all are! :-)

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