Seven Months

Dear Nathan,

Seven months sounds so old. You're not my little newborn anymore. While I miss those sweet, precious newborn days, I wouldn't trade the sweet you I've come to know for anything.
I remember thinking when your brother was this age that this was my favorite age for him and I didn't want him to grow up any. I knew I'd always look back to when he was 6-7 months and think fondly of that time. I'm reminded often of that as you go through the same age.

There's just something so cool about getting to watch your personality develop, to watch as you develop an interest in toys (and puppy dogs)--yet you stay so happy most of the time. You embrace the world around you that you are just beginning to become fully aware of, but you haven't learned yet that sometimes you have control over it and sometimes you don't--one of the leading causes of toddler tantrums, I believe.

Even more than most babies your age, you are still so happy. I know I say this every month, but it still astounds me every month--every day even. All it takes is a glance or a goofy face or Patrick being...well, Patrick and you break out in the biggest grin with those adorable dimples. Your laugh and smile never fail to get a smile out of any of us, no matter how early in the morning it is.

You have started babbling lots as well. If you need something, even just attention, you'll start with the babbling before moving onto whining and crying. I have to admit that I'm a lot more likely to rush into your room after your nap when I hear you calling out, "Mamamamamama," than when you scream. And I know I'm just that biased mom saying it, but I think you may sort of connect your words with the responses you get. You say, "Mamama," when you want something from me and "Dadada" when you want Daddy's attention. I'm not sure what you want when you say, "Nanananana" yet, but that's another of your favorites.

Speaking of "nana," Patrick's word for bananas (and Nana), you are doing extremely well with the whole eating thing. You eat everything you're offered and love solid foods. Maybe we were unintentionally starving you and that's why your weight gain was tapering off just a bit because now you can't get enough. You're already eating stage two foods (Gerber's) and love trying new flavors. I haven't found one you won't eat, although you do give great faces for green beans. We are also trying some true solid foods for you, at the doctor's suggestion. He wants you to know how to handle a Cheerio or goldfish the first time Patrick decides to share one with you and I can't intercept it in time. So far we have only tried you on tiny pieces of banana, but you've handled it well. You just gum it until it feels like the normal pureed food.

Lately you've had a hard time deciding who your favorite family member is. You love me because I feed you, attend to most of your needs, and love on you. You love Daddy with that wide-eyed awe and strive to get his attention any time he's around, even when I'm feeding you in bed on Saturday mornings when he's sleeping next to me. But the real challenge is between Patrick and Amber. You idolize Patrick and think everything he does is funny (don't encourage him!). You're desperate for attention from him even more than Daddy, and even when it's not the most gentle attention. But Amber--you get plenty of attention from her and put up with lengthy bathings from her and clearly love it. Today at lunch you were sitting in your little rocking chair while the rest of us ate, and Amber was sitting at your feet. You kept rocking forward and leaning over to try to reach her. I think you would sit all day with at least one hand on the puppy if she would let you.

You're moving through all your milestones so fast. You realize your brother wasn't sitting competently like you are until he was about nine months old? I highly suspect you'll be crawling by then, a feat he didn't accomplish until he was over a year old. You're already quite competent at getting where you want to go by squirming. You're really good at it on your back, but now that you've figured out you can do it on your belly too, the position isn't as awful for you. I think that will quickly prompt you to try really crawling. And that's when the real parenting begins, especially since we have all of Patrick's "dangerous" toys strewn all over the floor at any given time.

But please don't be in a rush to grow up too fast. While I get excited about each new milestone, I know that we have entered a new stage and left the last one behind. I'm never quite ready to leave that last stage behind (except perhaps for the night-wakings stage). But even if you do rush through all these stages in front of you, I'll keep loving you exactly for who you are. You are absolutely precious to me, a fact you insist on reminding me of every single day. You are a joy to be around, something I hope I can remember when you hit the surly teenager stage. Hopefully you will continue to grow up just as happy and easygoing as you are right now. You will if I have anything to say about it...but I'll love you with all my heart no matter how you end up.

Love,

Mommy