7 months!

Preston celebrated New Years by turning 7 months on January 1st (and again, slacker mom is late with the post!) I look back at my 6 month post where I talk about how active P was and want to laugh - we are on a whole new level of activity at 7 months! The theme of this month - cruisin' baby!

Likes: speed crawling, pulling up to stand, cruising on any piece of furniture he can find, chasing Spencer, climbing everything in sight, trying to stick his hands in the dogs food bowl, playing peek a boo, reading books, speed crawling over to anything that's "off limits"

Dislikes: being confined in his exersaucer (we'll be putting that away this month), diaper changes, wearing hats, sitting still for more than 5 seconds

Milestones: He learned how to climb up our basement steps (with Jake as a spotter and me looking on trying not to have a heart attack). We're still working on getting back down the steps. He basically is only happy when he's standing up and cruising/trying to walk (or speed crawling - he does this hilarious laugh while he's crawling towards something). His issue is balance and once he has that down, I think he will be walking (or more likely running) in no time.

Eating: Preston has hit a major food loving stage! His favorite food hands down in bananas. He will eat an entire banana for breakfast most days. He's also loving pears, sweet potatoes, peaches, avocado, apple, carrots and zucchini. He's coming around to broccoli and cauliflower. We also introduced meat and he's had chicken and pork BBQ and loved them both.

He also has gotten his pincher grasp down and can get puffs into his mouth with no problems (his favorite puffs are sweet potato flavor). He eats a slice of toast for breakfast that we cut into strips - he sucks on them until they are soft enough to swallow...it's quite hilarious to watch. Honestly, there's really no food we put in front of him that he won't eat at this point and it's really cool to see him try all these new things. Still taking 4 or 5 bottles a day of formula (8 oz at a time).

Sleep: Sleeping at night like a champ...we do bedtime around 6:30/7:00pm and he sleeps through until typically around 6:00am. Sometimes a bit earlier, sometimes later. He naps well on the weekends (we loosely do the EASY method so he's usually taking 3 naps a day). Naps at daycare are still all over the place, but he has so much fun there, so I think he just doesn't want to miss out on anything (FOMO!)

Personality: He continues to be a pretty intense, serious guy but is definitely becoming more smiley and giggly, which I love. He's started with a bit of stranger apprehension (he got a new teacher at daycare and apparently wouldn't let her hold him for over a week!) and takes a while to warm up in new situations. When we go somewhere new, he sits and takes everything in for a while before becoming his crazy, explorer self. But he has started this new thing where he gives us "kisses" and it seriously melts my heart. He also loves crawling over to me or Jake, pulling up so he's standing in our lap and then cuddling his face into our neck - it's pretty much the cutest thing in the world.

Other Development: He finally has 1 bottom tooth that has popped up and the other one is starting to come through as well.  His babbling has increased, but not really saying any words at all. We are starting to hear more consonant sounds ("duh, guh") vs. vowel sounds ("ah, oh, eh") so I guess we will be hearing dada pretty soon. His teachers at daycare have started teaching him sign language and we are hoping to continue that at home for basic signs (more, all done, etc.).

Basically, when I think I cannot love this little boy anymore, he just becomes so much more fun, cuddly, interactive and all around awesome that my heart pretty much explodes on a daily basis. 7 months is my favorite age so far, but I know I'll be saying that in about 2 weeks when he turns 8 months. LOVE him!