Your papa got back in town today – he’s been in Tahoe helping Uncle Kyle on his new house – and he and nana came over tonight. They kept an eye on you while your dad and I were at soccer, and they loved seeing you move across the floor. Your papa said he thought you were strongly favoring your right arm to pull you along, and proclaimed that you are right-handed. We’ll see!

But the most exciting part of today was after you went to bed. We Skyped with Brett, Jen and Kyle and together presented nana and papa with their anniversary present. Their 49th wedding anniversary is tomorrow, and so we celebrated a little early. We presented them with a few travel books, some papers to renew their passports, and a message that we’re all going to take them on a big family adventure to Europe next fall for their 50th anniversary. I am so excited for this trip, and think it is such a unique and perfect way to honor their amazing commitment to each other and our family. I can’t wait for all the fun we’ll have!

Today your nanny found you standing in the crib! We’ve never before seen you pull yourself up to a standing position, and neither had she, so she was quite surprised to find you like this. Needless to say, we spent the evening lowering your crib to its lowest level. But it’s obvious that this is the latest move you’re working to conquer. You spent almost all of bath time moving from a reclined position, to seated, then leaning forward and grabbing the end of the tub and trying to lift your little body to a standing position. You’d breathe heavily from the intense work of trying to stand, and we’d have our hands on your ready to catch you should you fall. You never did get yourself to fully standing, but I can only imagine how much harder it’d be in a slippery, odd shaped tub. Also tonight, you kept trying to stand up by pulling yourself up on the edge of the piano. It kept slipping away from you on the carpet, and so I eventually moved you over to the couch and tried to show you how to pull yourself up on the end of the couch. Perhaps I shouldn’t be showing you these things, but I figured it’d be better to have you pull yourself up using something that is soft and stable, than something that moves and slides. But I still can’t believe you’re already working on standing.

You turned seven months old today, and this evening your dad and I were reminiscing how seven months ago we were spending our first night with you. We were exhausted from the long labor, but we were also savoring our first quiet, nighttime moments with you. The visitors had left, the doctors had stopped popping in, and aside from a nurse coming in to check on us every couple of hours, it was just the three of us. We even took our first family stroll that night. At the urging of friends who had previously had c-sections, as well as the nurses, we went for a walk around the hospital wing. This was no easy feat, as I had tubes connecting me to machines that I had to wheel around. In addition, this was our first ever experience of carefully holding you while walking around, an art form that is now second nature, but at the time seemed quite daunting. It’s amazing to think back to that first night – when you weren’t able to nurse, when I was in so much pain every time I moved, when merely handling and holding you tested my nerves, when we were exhausted and thought we’d never get a good night’s sleep again – to now.

Sitting Pretty at Seven Months

Loving the shoelace

It is shocking how much you have changed. You sleep through the night almost every night, sometimes sleeping for 12 hours straight. You are happy and giggly, curious and engaged at all times. You are an exceedingly proficient eater, gobbling up all solid foods we offer, and drinking more than we ever thought possible. You are an expert wiggler and roller, able to move anywhere you want via this method. You’re also rapidly perfecting sitting, and you can go from sitting, down to your belly, and back up with ease. While sitting, you are still a little wobbly and will plop over every once in awhile. I cannot even imagine what a workout it must be developing those abdominal muscles. And you’re starting to crawl. Every day you get closer and closer to crawling, better and more efficient at moving your tiny arms and legs to propel you across the floor. It is so fun to watch you learn this. But your preferred form of motion is still rolling: rolling from front to back, then folding in your arms and legs to sort of turn your body, then rolling to your belly to reassess your proximity to your item of desire, over and over until you reach it. As you’re in the early phases of crawling, you insert a long streeeeetch on your belly as you try to reach the item with your hands, then you move your legs and arms to try and get you there. Although sometimes you lift up your middle into ‘crawl’ position, you haven’t yet combined the lifting with the moving of the arms/legs, and so your beginner crawl is very much a belly crawl. It’s like you’re doing freestyle on the carpet.

Posing nicely

All smiles for the photo shoot

As you’re learning this new skill, we often try to challenge and entice you to crawl by moving objects just out of your reach, and sometimes even dragging them away as you get closer. You generally just keep on trying to get to it, a repeating cycle of rolling, wiggling, stretching, reaching. Very rarely do you get frustrated at this seemingly never-ending process, and you cry out. At that we give you the object, scoop you up and shower you in congratulatory kisses. We’re so proud of your determination and hard work to get what you’re after and to hone this new skill.

Can’t sit still for long

We wandered around downtown Breckenridge today, walking through an art festival, eating, and popping into a few shops. You seemed to enjoy being out and about, though we’re discovering that you get antsy pretty quickly at restaurants. I think you’d rather be moving around and exploring, and you’re tempted by all of the items on the table just begging for you to play with and taste. You love to pound whatever we give you onto the table, than throw it to the floor. We’re learning that we need to carry some string to tie the toys to the highchair!

This afternoon we took you swimming for only your second time, and again, you really seemed to enjoy it. We stayed in the water a bit longer than last time, and you were content the whole time. We’ve signed you up for swim classes and they start next week. I’m so excited to see what you think of them and what we learn.

Today you experienced two ‘firsts’: your first near run-in with a bear, and your first gondola ride. The first was scary enough to drive me to tears, while the latter was perfect. We walked downtown to grab some breakfast, and our walk home we were cutting through the woods and entering a developed area when someone in one of the houses informed us that there was a bear on the other side of the house! I wasn’t sure what to do, and wanted to turn around, but if we wanted to get home we really need to keep going forward. Your dad reassured me that we would be ok, and we kept walking but headed in the opposite direction of where the man indicated the bear was. We made it home without even sighting the bear, but I was certainly on edge.

This afternoon we took the gondola up to the ski area to meet up with Lia and her husband. I haven’t been to the ski area in the summer since I was a little girl; your papa and nana used to take me there to ride on the alpine slide. Well the area sure has changed and been developed; now there’s putt putt golf, biking, horseback riding, and other activities in addition to the slide. You appeared to be taking in the views from the gondola, busy looking around as we passed through the trees. I was so looking forward to taking you on your first gondola ride, and it’s neat to think that this if the first of many fun adventures we’ll have on the mountains together, in both summer- and winter-time. You seem so at ease and right at home outdoors. We’re so glad, because we plan to spend a lot of our time with you outside.

Your First Gondola Ride

Playing around at the base of Peak 8

We headed up to Breckenridge today for the long weekend. You loved crawling around the living room, and especially loved to head over to the TV stand, where you enjoyed rearranging all of the videos on the shelf. You’d knock some over, push some backwards, and pull some out. The ones that you did get out you’d wrangle with your arms and legs until you had them perched above you, where you would then stick them in your mouth for a good tasting. Although you’ve never yet seen a movie, you sure did enjoy the wide array of movies on the shelf!

Endless fun with the videos

Tonight we went out for an early dinner. At the table next to us was another family with two young girls. The girls were fascinated by you, and you by them. Finally the father asked if the girls could come say hello to you. They were very sweet and gentle, and obviously enamored by you. You just sat back and observed, not really smiling but definitely not fearful or upset by their presence. I love watching you take in the world around you; you seem so curious and open-minded.

You love to bang and pound on things, so a few weeks ago your dad and I set out to find a piano for you at the toy store. We didn’t find a piano that was appropriate for your age, but we did find a neat wooden xylophone set, which inserted into a wooden box. On top of the box were three balls. The idea is that you could bang the balls with the little hammer that was included, and when the balls fell they’d hit the xylophone then roll down it, and out the box, all the while making sounds. This toy was for ages one year and older, but we figured we could play it with you, you could roll the balls around and hit things with the hammer, and eventually you’d get the hang of it as you got older. Well one night recently we got home from work and your nana casually mentioned that you knew how to play with the toy. We were so surprised as we hadn’t witnessed this yet. She sat you in front of it, gave you the hammer, and you whacked away until eventually you knocked out the first ball, then moved on to the second and then the last ball. Although you didn’t have the dexterity to hit it hard and get the ball free on your first hit, you displayed amazing strength and understanding of how the toy worked, and you were able to get the ball free in just a few attempts. We were really impressed!

One of the latest developments in the last week or so is that you’re making a scrunchy face when you’re really happy. It’s like just smiling or squealing doesn’t do justice to the joy that you feel, and you wrinkle up your face in an expression of your excitement. It is so cute.

So happy!

Another scrunchy face

Another development is that you’re almost crawling. You are so close! The problem (if I can even call it that) is that you are a very proficient wiggler/roller, and you can get anywhere you want to be by wiggling and rolling around. So, you haven’t yet had much of a need or desire to crawl. We have been encouraging you to crawl, placing items you desire just a little out of your reach. You stretch your body out and try to reach, and then wiggle and roll your way to the item. But a couple of days ago the object of your desire was Moguly. He was lying about two feet away, and you stretched yourself out towards him but couldn’t quite reach. Then, in what was your closest approximation to crawling yet, you sort of wiggled/army crawled on your belly over to him. Once there you grabbed his leg and tried to pull it towards you. Moguly, with his all of his patience combined with an over-abundance of laziness, didn’t move, but just pulled his leg away and laid it back down out of your reach. You kept wiggling closer, grabbing, pulling, and he kept pulling back. It was pretty entertaining for a bit, until Moguls finally had enough, got up, and left. But I think we found the thing to motivate you to crawl – Moguly!

Today was my work from home day and also one of the days your nana watches you. She’s been taking you on a walk or two every day, and lately you guys have been walking by the elementary school. If the timing is right, you sit and watch the kids play and she talks with you about how someday you will go to school there. Today the kids were in class, and your nana spotted the tetherball. She said she went over and played with it a bit, telling you afterward how she used to rule the playground at that game. Someday you and her will play together!

Hanging out with nana (and Guinness too!)

Deep in thought

Happy with your ball