{Elijah James - 7 Months}

Elijah James, you are 7 months old!

You have grown so much this last month and you wow mama and papa with your new skills. Your big development is how mobile you are. You are not quite crawling, but you have found your own way to move. You like to get on all fours, rock your whole body, push your arms out in front of you and then pull the rest of your body forward and up on all fours. Sometimes you look like a little frog. When you are on the floor you can also spin yourself around in a full circle. When your eye catches something of interest, there is no holding you back. You are also sitting up more on your own. You cannot pull yourself to the sitting position yet, but if we set you down you can sit a while on your own. You love to sit and look around and pick up toys. It is a whole new point of view for you.

Sitting and Playing

Elijah, you continue to try and enjoy more foods. This month you have had chicken, red potatoes, bell peppers, pumpkin, and apple sauce. You have been enjoying everything and you are getting better at feeding yourself. You have started to eat one meal at daycare and then eat dinner with us. Mama and Papa have really been enjoying our family meals together.

 Pumpkin

Peppers

Chicken

Mama and Papa have been having so much fun with you buddy! You are a happy guy and you are flexible. We try to keep routine to your life, but you do go with the flow when plans change. You make us laugh so much. These days you enjoy shaking your head. We think you might be trying to dance, but it also seems like you are saying no all the time. You have been exploring Charlie more. You love to grab at her face and fur. Charlie is very patient with you and it is sweet to watch you together. Overall your curiosity and sense of wonder is so much fun to watch. You enjoy moving things around, picking things up to see if something is underneath, and you love banging your toys on the ground. You also love to push your toys away, scoot to retrieve, and then push away again. You recently created your first art project playing with paper and sticky contact paper.

Your sleep has been funny recently. You have been consistently sleeping through the night. However at daycare your sleep is hit or miss. There are days when you sleep less than an hour total, days where you take two one hour naps, and then there are days where you sleep for three hours. Even with missing sleep during the day, you are generally a happy guy. You seem to enjoy catching up on your sleep during the weekend, just like mama!

Your 7th month of life has been busy and full of adventure. You started the month by attending your first wedding for our friends Tom & Melinda and you had your first overnight trip away from mama and papa. You spent the night with the Kaetzel’s. You had a great time and you loved playing with the boys. Mama and Papa enjoyed a night away to celebrate our 5th wedding anniversary.

 Dressed up to celebrate!

Playing with Jack at your sleepover

We went on our first family camping trip to Lake Chelan with our friends the Knudson’s. We camped right on the lake and you loved the time outside. Sleeping in a tent as a family was an adventure and you did wake up once each night. Now that we’ve done one trip, we are looking forward to camping more next summer.

 Packed up! Where is Lije?

Elijah, you went to the zoo for the first time. You ended up sleeping through most of the trip, but mama and papa sure loved seeing the animals. Highlights were the penguins, giraffes, tigers, monkeys and bears. We look forward to taking you to the zoo many more times.

Your Grandpa Jerry came by to visit for an evening and you loved seeing him. It was nice when he played on the floor with you and snuggled with you. You finished your 7th month with your first trip to the Washington State Fair. We had a great time looking at goats, taking in the sights, and playing on a grassy field where you could watch the roller coaster and play with mama and papa.

Grandpa Jerry!

 Papa showing you the goats!

During your 8th month of life, we think you are looking forward to: crawling, attending your first art show, visiting a pumpkin patch, and celebrating Halloween with your PEPS friends.

Here area few photos and videos from your 7th month of life:

 Ready for Football!

First art project!