7 months already?

Ach... it's 7 months already? Its no joke that they grow up quick.  I'm wondering where my itty bitty little boy went.  Now, LLM can sit up on his own, push himself up to a sitting position, trying to stand, crawling...saying 'baba' and 'mama' and any combination of those sounds.  Makes my heart melt when we play "hide and seek" (peek-a-boo) and he's leaning his head looking for me.  Even though I'm just sitting right there covering my eyes behind a chair or under the table he still smiles and laughs when I 'pop' out.  

Prince LLM crowned himself with the box from his cousins toy (7.14)

He's showing a bit of the separation anxiety, but over all is still very tolerant of other people holding him. I'm so grateful that he's as good as he is right now.  Couldn't ask for more.  Even when he's crabby I can get him to smile.  I know his secret tickle spot.  :-P  

playtime in the kitchen

Every week a little more of his personality comes out.  He's so curious and social.  And when it's quiet time, he loves nothing more than sitting in my lap playing with his toys.  

danger! mobile baby ahead!

He's figured out how to crawl.  Hasn't mastered it yet, but I know he will soon.  Then I'll have to be extra vigilant and figure out how to grow eyes on the back of my head because he's already looking for trouble.  Ms Jill found him crawling towards power cords as she turned to set up the pack and play for his naptime.  Grandma found him crawling towards...more power cords.  And I....well, I found him almost under the bed.  He's too curious I tell you.  Oh and those nifty foam play mats? He's figured out how to take it apart.  And I'm pretty sure its just by watching us put it together.  I've got 2 mats, one he didn't watch me put together and he's not tried to take it apart yet...and then this one...

which isn't much unlike the other one I've got which is an alphabet version with smaller parts (if LLM figures out how to get those apart, I'll probably have to forgo leaving him on that mat to play).  But for some reason he enjoys taking this one apart and trying to eat the pieces.

LLM can push himself up from laying down to sitting on his own now.  One minute hes on his back, the next...sitting up staring at you.  Must admit, it's a bit startling at first to turn around and he's in a different position than when you looked away.

I swear, he's grown another 2 inches...even to me, he looks so big.  I was watching him in the PNP and honestly he looked like he took up the entire thing.  When did that happen?! Picture updates to come.

separation anxiety?

My lovable, friendly, uber sweet baby boy has started to become a teeensy bit clingy.  He doesn't want me to put him down at all.  And if he's tired...he'd rather me hold him than anyone else.  Today I'm pretty sure he had a nightmare during his afternoon nap because all of a sudden he just started crying.  When I looked in on him he was almost back asleep, just murmuring to himself.  When he cried out again, it woke him up and I had to pick him up to calm him.  For the rest of the afternoon and until well after dinner, child would throw a fit if I wasn't nearby.  It seems pretty early for him to start having separation anxiety, but I guess with the circumstances that we're in now...having to go between 2 homes since his dad and I are kind of separated now...it's probably bound to happen earlier than it would. At least, that's the only logic I can put to it right now.  We'll see how this week goes, with him bouncing between grandma and Ms Jill.  Hopefully because he's used to them it won't be so bad.  But I know I will have to give him some extra attention for a while so he knows madmommy isn't going anywhere.  Which I kept whispering to him this evening before bed... I like to think he understood me.  It didn't take me nearly as long to put him to bed as it did when I tried to put him down for his nap.  Don't worry little man, I will always be here for you.

happy smiley baby. i love this face.

first pony ride!

On Tuesday, families were invited to our company picnic at the office.  It was really fun. There was a moon jump for the kids and a dunk tank...and ponies.


I couldn't pass up the opportunity to put little man on the ponies....

little man on bullwinkle

6 months!

Ok, I'm pretty late with this one...even I'm ashamed that I haven't posted LLM's 6 monthiversary. This morning he just had his 6 month check up. 15 lbs, 26.25".  The doctor thinks that the last length measurement was a fluke.  I think so too.  Cuz there's no way little man shrunk in the past 2 months.  But, regardless.  He's doing so well.  Perfectly...average.  But so smart, so curious, and so, so sweet.  I really do believe he's here to give me a reason to be here.  His smile and his personality alone are well worth everything I could ever dream of having.

6 months workin the superman curl

Today, he got his 3rd round of DTAP/Rotavirus and I swear this time, it really did hurt me more than him.  I wanted to cry when he screamed out as he got stuck.  For a millisecond he froze until he realized what was going on and then proceeded to scream.  Poor baby.  I'm sorry!! The surge of emotion as I watched him was quite unexpected.  I'd felt bad before when he got his shots, but I think now because he's developed such a sweet disposition, I feel horrible making him go through that.  But, I say it really hurt me more than him because almost immediately after i scooped him up after the shots were administered he settled down from wailing to mild whimpering as he clung to my shirt for dear life.  Within a minute he was distracted enough by the pictures on the wall in the pediatricians office that he'd stopped crying.  


He's sitting up on his own with little help, grabbing things with his hands.  Not quite able to get the pinchers down yet.  Which is entertaining when I try to encourage him to pick up his own puffs.  Baby gets so frustrated because he knows what his puffs are and he wants to eat it, but I don't feed it to him at first.  I let him try to grab it and if he gets it I help guide his hand to his mouth.  It usually doesn't go in his mouth, and then he gets even more frustrated.  I told my sister how to give him the puffs, and he had got it to his mouth but it fell out onto my sister's hand and she looked up to tell me he almost had it when he did a nose dive into her palm and sucked up the puff cereal.  The little cheater looked so pleased with himself as he mummed away on it...it was absolutely hilarious.  

tasting watermelon through the mesh feeder

He also looks for me now, when he hears my voice. My mom will be holding him and playing with him and when I'm in the next room talking to my mom, he'll look around.  He knows his name, and smiles at someone when they call him.  Even if he's cranky, most people can manage to get a little smile out of him.  


Oh, did I mention how much he wiggles and rocks to get himself somewhere? Well, he's mastered the slow scoot by pulling himself across the floor with his arms.  Next up, adding the legs. I wouldn't be surprised if he started crawling by the end of the month.  I mean he's already got the body rock down...

bodyrock. back and forth. 

This kind of scares me because when he does that, I sit there and think he's so going to smash his face into the ground.  I'm sure he will do that at some point, but I guess that's what he has to do to learn right? Fall down and try again.  It's ok, I'll be there to pick him up and kiss his boo boos in between. <3

On the go...

...ok, not really.  But he wants to!  Often he gets bored in one spot and decides he wants to be picked up and moved somewhere else.  Luckily, he's easily distracted.  LLM is quite independent and very social.  I've re-evaluated my stand on those child leash things and have determined that if I indeed need one, I no longer morally have a problem getting one.  If only to make sure I don't lose him in a crowd when we're on vacation. LOL...

This kid likes to eat. But only on his own time and on his own terms.  And if you're eating, by golly he needs to participate too. 

He demands to be at the dinner table when we're eating dinner.  He's not happy sitting off to the side in his jumparoo, even if he's right next to me. Sometimes I make him wait anyway, but apparently I can't stop my grandma or my mom from picking him up and catering to his whine.  Spoiled, I tell you.  So we put his bumbo seat on the chair next to me and he gets Baby MumMums.  I think he finds it fascinating to watch me eat.  Lately I've taken to emphasizing my chewing motions so he can watch and he'll copy the movements.  He'll put the MumMum in his mouth and 'bite' with his 2 lower baby teeth.  You don't normally think about how hard it is to bite into things until you watch a baby with no teeth try to chew.  Seriously...it's kind of funny.  I can't tell if he just doesn't like the flavor of the cracker, or if he's trying to figure out how to chew though.  I mean he eats the thing so I assume the flavor is ok, right? I tasted it, it is bland but it's not bad.  The look on his face, though...priceless.

joining madmommy at the dinner table

He's picky about what he eats and when.  I gave him more oatmeal cereal and he didn't want it.  He'll eat his crackers no problem, but anything runny, forget it. Although, there was once that I handed him the spoon with a bit of oatmeal on it just to see what he'd do and he went ahead and put it in his mouth himself.  ...sooooo you don't want me to feed you, you want to feed yourself?!  This is gonna get messy.

LLM is starting to figure out how to move around.  Wait little man wait! I'm not ready!!!  He will do any combination of wiggling and rolling until he gets to where he wants to go.  If he's blocked by something or becomes trapped in some other way, he starts whining. 

literally just went to pee in the next room and came back to him see-saw wiggling off the mattress pad.

He's so curious, which I love.  These are some exciting times.  I really am grateful that he is in my life.  There's no other explanation other than it was by His will that I have this beautiful baby boy.  With my current state of mind, he exists so I can. 

First Foods

Last weekend, LLM tried his best to eat MadMommys food off her plate.  Here he is trying to eat my corn....

om nom nom

So, as I've been reading and have been told by other moms, when he's ready for food you'll know because he'll be really interested in your food.  I took the above as he's just about ready. 

On Tuesday night, I ground up some oatmeal and made an oatmeal cereal, and laced it with ground up quinoa.  Not really sure why I did it that way...I just felt like it.  I like quinoa...so maybe LLM would too?  Hahaha.  ::shrug::  We also tried carrots.  In hindsight, I probably should have tried something else, maybe peas or sweet potato.  He wasn't a fan of the carrots.  I tasted it too...and I couldn't blame him for making a face and shaking his head every time a carrot filled spoon came toward him.  But bless his little heart, he ate it if I shoved the spoon in his mouth anyway.  The cereal took a few bites before he realized what was going on.  He was quite confused with why strange stuffs were in his mouth. 

oatmeal/quinoa cereal

This experiment was quite entertaining.  LLM is such a character.  He's too smart.  Even when I mixed the oatmeal with the carrots, if he could smell the carrots on the spoon he wouldn't open his mouth.  LOL silly boy.  He's still quite confused about the texture and flavors.  But at least for now, he's not spitting it out.  He just makes a 'this is icky' face while he eats.  Fun times.  <3