7 Months and Santa

Dear Nate,

Today you are seven months old.  I never really thought about seven months, by which I mean I rarely thought of you past six months.  That always felt like a huge milestone to me.  And I always worried about seven months because I adore the four-to-six month age and feel like after that, it's just a roller coaster to your first birthday.

Turns out, I wasn't wrong.  Boy, have you taken off this month!  You had one very new tooth when you turned six months; now you have THREE teeth, all on the bottom!  Last month you were crawling with your belly on the ground.  Okay, you're still doing that, just faster - BUT now you pull yourself up to standing and cruise a little.  Yesterday you even started climbing.  You pulled yourself up to standing and, one by one, put both feet up on the first drawer of a cabinet in the kitchen.  You CLIMBED up onto the first drawer and held on.  Later, you climbed up the OUTSIDE of your walker and stood on top of the base of it! 

The walker has wheels, you know - you could just fly off at any point and crack your coconut, as your Aunt Stef says.  I'm pretty sure I'm going to have a heart attack before you turn eight months old.

We have the walker, but we only use it to keep you safe while we do something in the kitchen, otherwise you're just into everything.  And your tolerance for your beloved Exersaucer has lessened, although you still enjoy it sometimes, especially in the morning.  Mostly now, though, you want to be on the move.

Sometimes that isn't so great, though - like when we're trying to change your diaper or get you dressed or clean your nose (you've been a big booger bomb for a week now).  You no longer want to lie on your changing table.  Ohhh, no.  You want to roll over, get up on your knees and look out the window.  The other day, you tried to stand on your changing table.  In short, you're crazy!  And let's just say that sometimes when you roll over in a dirty diaper, you end up needing a bath.  I think you do that on purpose, though, since you love bath time.

So sometimes Daddy and I have to work together to hold you down to change your diaper and clean your nose and, naturally, you don't like this.  You start to cry and scream - but you know what stops you?  Do Re Mi.  Yes, from The Sound of Music.  For some reason, you LOVE this song.  No matter what mood you're in, if I start singing it, you break out the biggest smile.  And since I am a huge, huge Julie Andrew/The Sound of Music fan (I was even in The Sound of Music play in high school!), this makes me incredibly happy.

And you know what else makes you happy?  Meal time!  You eat so many things now - every fruit we've given you, every vegetable - and now for dinner you get meat!  Chicken and rice, turkey and sweet potato, chicken noodle - there isn't anything you won't eat.  You even had some of Grandma's meatballs last week.  No surprise that at 7 months you're wearing some 12 month clothing.

And today, your seven month birthday, you met Santa for the first time:

You were an absolute angel.  Santa has to get you everything on your list now because he saw first-hand just what a good boy you are, my little angel.  (Except when you're climbing things.  That's going to get you some coal.)

And, as always, everyone commented on how happy and good you are.  We can't go anywhere without someone saying that.

You also got to meet Great Grandma, Daddy's grandmother, for the first time this month.  She's not feeling well but she was so happy to meet you.  She gave you the biggest smile of the day and you smiled big right back at her.  You are so good and sweet and such a little charmer.

Every day with you is more exciting and surprising than the last.  Before you were born, Daddy and I spent a lot of time trying to guess what you would be like and what you would look like.  We assumed you'd have either Daddy's dark brown hair or the blond hair that all the boys in my family have.  And there was no doubt that you'd have the blue eyes that run all through my family.  Never once did I think you would end up with my hair color.  I didn't even realize that that's what you had until someone pointed it out a few weeks ago - that's how much I didn't think of it.  I just kept assuming you'd turn blond eventually.

And your eyes are amazing and beautiful.  Sometimes they're blue, sometimes they're grey, sometimes they're a greenish grey.  We don't know if they haven't settled yet or if maybe you got Grandma and Pop-Pop's hazel eyes with a big dose of the blue that everyone else has.  Regardless, you have surprised us again.

You surprise us and delight us daily.  Just when we think we can't love you any more than we already do because you simply own our hearts, our hearts grow a little more so we can love you even more.

Happy 7 months, Peanut!

Love, Mommy

Comments

[Liza]

Holy shit buckets. I'm sorry for the cursing, but I can't help it. Sailor LOVES, LOVES Do Re Mi!!!! In the past few days (maybe week) Tom and I have been singing it, particular the line, "When you know the notes to sing, you can sing most anything!" And she cracks this massive smile, no matter what mood she's in - even if she's getting her face wiped after eating, which she despises. Oh, how funny.

And that bath photo is adorable. What's the seat? Do you like it? We need to move her out of the sink tub to the big tub very soon. Oh, and I'm pretty sure we got her that same walker for Christmas!

[Candice]

That's awesome! I think I'm raising a narcissist because Nate's favorite line is, "Me, a name I call myself." Seriously, he starts to smile at Do... Smiles more at Re... but then cracks the biggest smile for Me. Ohhhh boy. lol

And, yeah, I can be cleaning boogers out of his nose with the bulb syringe and a wet wipe but if I'm singing that song, he'll smile. It's incredible.

The bath seat is from Walmart. It's the only store around me that sells them on site; every other store only sells them online. The suction cups are great - that seat is NOT moving once you put it in the tub. The only thing I hate is the warning on it about how babies have died in bath seats. I really do not need to read that EVERY TIME I give Nate a bath (although I understand why the warning is there).

The walker was a hand-me-down from my sister. I'm not a big fan of walkers because of the developmental issues associated with them - but, frankly, sometimes you just need to be sure that your kid is in one place for a minute, you know? LOL