SEVEN

Well here we are, another month down. Time flies - especially when you are having fun.

This month was filled with some great adventures, paramount to the rest was, of course, our trip to Mexico. This was Xander's first real "vacation" vacation. We have gone to Colorado to visit family, and flown to California for adoption stuff, but this was a real get-a-way. It was very awesome. More on that in a bit, first let's talk his advancements this month.

I alluded to this last month and I won't hold the suspense any longer (I know you are dying). Yes, he is sleeping in his bed! Just a couple days after his 6 month birthday we were feeling the pressure to put him in his bed, and out of the swing, primarily because our for our trip to Mexico we knew we wouldn't have a swing to put him in and we most certainly wanted our sleep. But his move to the bed came more sudden than we thought it would. We had been testing the waters with naps in his bed and they were off and on okay. Sometimes he would sleep well others he would wake up instantly. But this one night just after his 6 month birthday Brandon went to put him in his swing and he seemed so irritated with it - arching his back, waking up etc... Very unusual. So he put him in his bed. Asleep. And slept through the whole night.


Wallah.

Now, it has had its challenges since he's been there - but nothing we didn't experience in his swing. Some nights he wakes up numerous times and others he sleeps through the night. In fact, after a bout of waking up tonight I am writing this blog post at 3 AM because I can't go back to sleep :-(. Nonetheless he is in his bed. The cutest thing he will do now is when he goes down to sleep and we lay him in his bed he will turn to his side immediately - preferably close to the side of the crib. There he will sleep, on his side. Adorable.



Slowly through the month you could see Xander getting more interested in crawling. He would sit on his hands and knees for a while, then that developed further to where he would rock back and forth seemingly knowing that this would be a great way to move. Then while we were down in Mexico and he was less encumbered by his long, warm clothing and had more constant attention and encouragement from his Nonnie and Poppie, who joined us down there he began to make moves telling us crawling is right around the corner. He now will move a leg or two - either by bouncing them forward or moving a knee forward one at a time. Where he struggles is with his hands. He doesn't know how to move them. He will reach one hand out toward an object but that usually ends up in him falling over. So as we cross into his eighth month he isn't quite crawling - but SO close. I was convinced I was going to get him to crawl before he turned 7 months, but it didn't happen :-(. Oh well, he has an 'A' for effort.




One movement related to our work in the crawling field is his ability to sit up from a laying down position. I haven't seen it yet in a smooth, one-movement, fashion, but all the movements are there. From a laying down position he can get to his stomach easily, from his stomach he can easily push up to a crawling position, and then from there he can plop his bum down and sometimes (this is the hardest part) push with one arm up to a seating position. Usually that arm is too far out and he just doesn't have the strength (probably why he isn't quite crawling yet).



On the solid food front, still no luck. While in Mexico we even tried bananas - nope. I have recently reverted back to rice cereal where we had the most success. Sure enough back to about the same level of success. I'll call him optimistically, yet cautiously, curious with rice cereal. From here I intend to slowly add bits of squash into the rice cereal getting him used to more flavor. I figure by 16 or 17 years we'll have him on pizza.



Our baby guy is just so fun to have around. His personality is shining through more and more every day. He gets in silly moods and laughs at the dumbest things, he can be serious and so focused, and pretty much is always ready and willing to give you the biggest smile in the world and it is the best thing to be given. His fussiest times are usually when he wakes up. His great-grandma said it is when he doesn't know if he is awake or asleep. That is the best description I've heard. Other than that he is a HAPPY HAPPY baby.

Now, the monthly run-down

• He is SO "grabby." He will wound your face, pull your hair, rip your lip, squeeze your ears, or twist your nose...but it is always done with a smile and with love :-)
• He seems so interested and curious about crawling - you can see the intent to learn in his eyes. He'll get there.
• He loves to play with your hands or your face while he is eating his bottle. He has done this for a while, but as he gets better with his hands it is becoming more and more his favorite thing.
• He is such a chatterbox and loves to make all sorts of sounds - even when it is just to himself: (The annoying beep sounds is my phone)
  
  

• We had our first visit to the park...he didn't really "get it."

• We made our first visit to the zoo as well...he didn't get that either. I thought that maybe he would think the animals were at least "large dogs" but nope - he didn't care. Nice walk anyway.
• And of course, Mexico. I will do a post on the trip later...