Dear Seven-Month-Old Sally

Dear Sally!

Sleepy, introspective, 7 months old

You are seven months old today. The day started almost exactly the same way your 6 month birthday began: you woke up (too) early, spit up on my bed, played very cheerfully in the guest room while Daddy and Walter slept, got sleepy right as everyone else was waking up, nursed and fell asleep right in time to head to day care.  I dressed you in the same cute birthday outfit you wore a month ago: your red Osh Kosh overalls and red turtleneck, size 9 months.

So, much is the same, but also, so much is different. You are clearly taller than you were a month ago, and you look like you're filling out and gearing up for another growth spurt.  You have two teeth and you are crawling. Much like your brother at this age, you like to pick a goal and crawl toward it at alarming speed. Your goal is very rarely something safe and appropriate, like a family member or a toy.  You prefer goals like electrical chords, buttons and knobs, the dog, the dog's food, etc. This, I believe, is the natural way of baby curiosity. You are almost always on the move, squirming out of our arms and onto your next adventure.

NOW you sleep. Sigh.

I watched you play with the stacking rings this morning. You still explore the world primarily by tasting things, but you also like to put things where they're supposed to go (you like unstacking and stacking the rings, dumping out Walter's dump truck of plastic blocks and then putting the blocks back into the truck, etc.)  You pay very close attention to everything I do, and everything the other people around you are doing (especially your brother.)  You are clearly watching us and learning, learning, learning.

You are getting sleeeeeeeeepy.

What you are not doing very much of is sleeping.  It's been a tough week for Mama and Dada--both you and Walter have had bad sleep problems for about 8 days straight.  We're not sure what's going on with you guys, though of course we have a lot of theories about it. One thing that's been kind of nice is that, even though you've been very wakeful all night, you've been very cheerful about it. It's hard to despair when you smile at me so beautifully, when you giggle and make your throaty growly noise.  You love to say, "Hi, Dada!" to all of us. Dada, in particular, loves it when you say that.

Yum!

You are eating: rice cereal, peas, sweet potato, squash, apple, banana, avocado and beans.  I got you to taste a little bit of raspberry and it was the first time I've seen you make the "ewwwwww" face. For the most part, you are interested in eating and tolerant of all the foods we try with you.  You LOVE eating anything we give you in this neat little mesh pacifier thing that allows you to feed yourself whole pieces of banana, avocado, apple, etc. The apple slice was very satisfying for you to crunch on with your new (and upcoming) teeth. Avocado is your favorite taste, so far. As long as we have your food quickly ready to go and don't make you wait too long, family meal times go well.  You like to watch me get the food ready--this reassures you that food is, in fact, on its way.  You are also nursing with great gusto these days.  I love feeding you in general, and nursing you in particular. You are so snuggly, you are so sweet!

Walter lets you pull his hair. Your brother loves you!

Words I'd use to describe you these days: snuggly, sweet, ferocious, voracious, cheerful, dramatic, focused, brilliant, charismatic, funny and loving.

This month you had your first big illness: a case of RSV that brought with it a persistent fever, a nasty cough and lots and lots of goopiness. It coincided with the arrival of your teeth.  You spent 6 days at home with me, and it was a hard time, but I'm glad I was able to nurse and care for you through it.  You didn't get an ear infection or pink eye or pneumonia or anything else, so we feel like we were lucky and got off relatively easy.  That's the way to do it, Sally!

Giving Umma a passionate kiss

I love to watch your relationships with your family members grow as you grow.  You are very bonded with Umma and Baba, giving them big smiles and loving looks of adoration.  You love your teachers at daycare--they will miss you when you move up to Room 2, soon.  You reach for your Daddy and smile wide to see him. And, of course, you are still my attached-at-the-hip girl ... you and I have a very special bond. You are very curious about Hank the Dog and incredibly gentle with him, always petting him with an open hand and never grabbing or pulling his fur. You grab your big brother's hair, though, and I'm amazed at how well he tolerates it!  I think you get away with a lot with him because he's so fond of you (and because you are clearly so fond of him.)

This morning you fell asleep on my lap after nursing just as Walter was waking up.  He came out to the living room and talked quietly to me for awhile--eventually you heard his voice, blinked, sat up (you can almost sit up on your own, now) and smiled at him.  You love waking up and seeing Walter there, with you.  Your biggest smiles and laughs are always for him. Walter doesn't like having his picture taken, but this morning he asked Dada, "Can you take a camera of us, Daddy?"  He didn't want the flash, so most of the pictures didn't turn out ...

Your brother makes you smile and smile!

too blurry, with Walter moving around, making you smile, and you moving around, smiling and laughing at Walter.  After a bit, Walter asked to climb up on my lap alongside you, and asked Daddy to put the camera away. He wanted to just enjoy being with you.  Daddy looked at the three of us together and said, "Hello, family."  It was one of those moments we don't have any pictures of, but will remember anyway, because we hold it in our hearts. You are always in our hearts, dear Sally!

Love you, and proud to be your
Mama

Walter Time

Yesterday was Walter's 7 month birthday. The story of our time with Walt between 5 pm on the 22nd and 8 am on the 23rd is a good one and quite representative of the whole Walter experience these days.

5:00pm: Mommy and Hank the Dog arrive at home. Mommy is very ready to nurse a baby. Any baby.
5:05pm: Mommy begins to pace and wonder where her baby is.
5:15pm: Daddy and Walter arrive at home. Mommy nearly faints with joy and relief.  Nursing commences.
5:30pm: All done. Walter is wide awake and ornery.
5:31pm: Birthday festivities begin with the presentation of a new toy: a drum that lights up, sings and counts.
5:32pm: JOY!

5:33pm: Walter makes his happy noise (throat clearing, eh eh eh eh) and inspects his drum very thoroughly, smiling and chortling with glee.

5:34pm: Walter has figured out the drum.

5:40pm: Walter continues playing, starts getting ornery again.

5:45pm: Walter discovers Mommy's shoes.  Decides to head over in that direction.  By crawling. New development: he is actually able to crawl forwards.  Mommy tries very hard not to move while Walter scratches her ankle, chews on her shoe, and attempts to pull himself into a standing position. He does not succeed, but makes serious headway. 

6:00pm: Birthday festivities continue.  What will we stick a candle in this month?  The obvious choice: a banana.  As a dear friend and colleague of Mommy's pointed out: "Nothing makes for a happy birthday like a burning banana!"

6:05pm: Traditional monthly flaming food item and birthday singing photo shoot.  Walter is super unimpressed. Most of our photos turn out like this:

6:06pm: Mommy has tickled Walter enough to get one good picture. Walt says: enough with the singing.  Make with the banana!  This is Walter's first taste of fruit.  He reacts to the banana much the same way he reacted to the sweet potatoes and peas that preceded it.

6:10pm: Mommy persists, and Walter decides banana is tolerable. But he doesn't eat very much, possibly because he hasn't pooped all day.  Walter is given toys and encouraged to play independently while Mommy and Daddy nuke up some dinner.

6:15pm: While playing, Walter makes a face that suggests he is working on something difficult and important.  The moment passes and he looks relieved and beings to play again with renewed vigor. Daddy quickly finishes his dinner and takes Walt to the changing table to investigate.

6:16pm: Daddy calls Mommy in to see the enormous big boy poopy.  Mommy finds that Daddy has not exaggerated. Walter is very pleased, and possibly about 5 pounds lighter. 

7:30pm: It takes about this long to get the boy cleaned up enough to get into the tub. Bath time!  Walter hears the water running and starts to get excited about the bath to come.  Rubber ducky is played with and chewed on. 

7:45pm: Daddy remarks that this is awfully early for bedtime.  However, the bedtime train has left the station and it has no brakes. 

8:00pm: After nursing sweetly with Mommy, rocking sweetly with Daddy, and going to bed as sweetly as can be, Walter settles in for a whole night long of sweet, sweet sleep.

8:15pm: The doorbell rings. Hank the Dog loses his tiny puppy mind. Walter wakes up screaming. Mommy goes to get the baby.  The doorbell rings AGAIN.  Daddy hastily throws on some clothes, restrains the dog, and opens the door.  The get out the vote volunteer asks if we will be voting on June 5.  Daddy, very reasonably, says, "Yes, we will" and shuts the door while Mommy screams "YOU WOKE OUR BABY!" at the top of her lungs, which does not do much to calm down the baby.  Mommy takes a deep breath and nurses the baby with all the milk she's managed to produce in the last fifteen minutes.  Daddy disconnects the doorbell. 

9:15pm: Mommy and Daddy are still trying to get Walter back to sleep.  It's a long hazy nightmare of crying, dry nursing, more crying, the baby crying, close calls, resting, rousing, lullabies and prayers. Also, some choice words concerning people who ring doorbells after 8 pm.

9:45pm: Daddy tries again to put Walter in the crib awake and walk away.  Walter falls asleep.  Daddy walks away, barely avoids walking into the wall. 

11:00pm: Walter is awake again.  Nurse, rock, repeat, sleep. 

5:30am: Walter wakes up, not quite as cheerful as he normally is in the morning.  Mommy nurses Walter and hopes he will go back to sleep for another hour or two.

6:30am: Mommy gives up, sings the good morning song, and starts getting Walter ready for day care. 

7:00am: Daddy takes over while Mommy showers and gets dressed. Fits of hysterical giggles (from Daddy and baby) can be heard from downstairs, interspersed with cranky pants crying (from the baby.)  

7:45am: Mommy notices that two more teeth emerged during the night.  Walter now has four teeth on top and two on the bottom.  Cranky pants: explained.  Daddy takes Walter to day care and goes to work; Mommy walks Hank the Dog and goes to work.  A tired-but-happy seven-month-old family embarks on another day.

We're bananas with love for Walter!