Jacob: 7 months!

Jacob is seven months old!

7 month picture

He is still small for his age. Measuring in (a week ago) at 14lbs 15oz, and 25 and a 1/4 inches long, he's actually on the percentile charts now!
Jacob is learning new things so very fast, it's hard to keep up with.
He had just barely learned to sit up on his own when he started rolling over, now he is learning how to grab onto things and pull himself to standing. We had been practicing for one day - we were letting him grab our fingers and we would help him balance while he stood - and that same night during bathtime he grabbed onto the edge of the bathtub and stood up on his own! The side of the tub was short enough that he would have kept going right over the edge, but Alex was right there to catch him. We were both surprised! We hadn't expected him to start trying on his own so soon. Now Jacob is seldom content to just be sitting. He loves having someone there to pull himself up on, and he's even getting really good at taking steps. I don't know how much longer it will take him to figure out how to balance on his own, he might just completely skip crawling.

Sleep is going much better now. At the recommendation of a friend I bought the book The Sleepeasy Solution and started putting some of the ideas into practice. Most of the suggestions in the book I had already started doing, so it has been a rather easy progression into weaning him from night feeding and starting new habits. Jacob has been two weeks sleeping without his pacifier at night, and almost not at all during the day. (Except for the night of the wreck, he slept with his pacifier in) Over the week he's gone 6 then 7.5 hours at night without eating, and last night he slept over 10 hours straight with no feeding! I'm so very proud of him. Nap time can still be a struggle, especially when we're not at home, but I think I'm learning what will or won't work.

Jacob eats very well, finishes at least one 4oz jar of veggies in the evening, and one jar of fruit in the morning. He also loves eating little Gerber graduates cheese puffs. Today he even figured out how to eat a whole one, rather than biting off the end and throwing the rest.

He's making progress in learning sounds. This week he's been saying "dadada" and grunting a lot. he also mimics people talking, he watches them and opens and closes his mouth as if he's trying to talk. It's adorable!

We also think he is starting to seriously teethe again. His smile has changed and now instead of a big open-mouth smile that lights up his whole face, he has a wide, cheesy grin. Besides that, he bites down hard, on everything, and drools like crazy.
Jacob also gives me kisses now. Big, wide-open mouthed, drooly kisses. On my nose, or mouth, or forehead, or whatever his mouth can reach.

Trying a new hair-do

I'm loving this stage of life. I'm loving Jacob's amazing personality, the pride Jacob has every time he learns something new, his belly laugh, his smiles...I love being a mommy.