Luke - 7 1/2 Month Update

Luke
Originally uploaded by Jenmomma

So, I missed the 7-Month update and we're not quite 8 months yet, so I'll do a mid-month one. Grace's 4 year update next.

So, Luke is still completely awesome. As you can see in the picture, he's a little orange, which I've been told is from eating all those carrots, squash and sweet potatos! So here's Luke's milestones:

Physical
- Sitting - Luke is very good at sitting unsupported now. He got this down about a week after he turned 6 months. He will sit for long periods of time when playing and can ride in a grocery cart or sit in a restaurant high chair now. When he's had enough he just leans to the side and topples over.
- We did end up switching to a regular carseat which is nicer than carrying the infant carrier, but now we have to wrestle with a coat.
- He has grown more attached to his teddy and monkey, but really likes about anything soft.
- Luke's favorite game is to take off (and then chew on) his socks. He rarely has socks on in the house for that reason and I always have to put at least one sock back on after any time in the car.
- He will stand if you hold onto him, but doesn't seem to want to bounce or have any desire to pull or hold himself upright.
- Luke still loves playing on the floor and I think anytime will learn to crawl. He trys to army crawl and really stretches to get to things. He pivots and turns really well, just hasn't quite figured out forward motion. But oh he wants to. In fact he's just a bit more cranky because of it.
- His hand/eye coordination is very good. He reaches, picks things up, will transfer from hand to hand, objects if something is taken away, and can even pick up small items now.
- He loves games like peekaboo and loves to be tickled or "eaten."
- He still laughes alot and likes to babble and hear himself make the strangest noises.
- Lately we're getting some angry cries when we take away something or if we aren't fast enough with the food.

Eating
Moving on to food... Over the last 6 weeks we've progressed a lot.
- Nursing is coming to an end. I dropped another pumping session at work to once per day and then a week later dropped that one and just was nursing at night and in the morning. Then I started supplementing at night after nursing. Lately, I've dropped the evening nursing session and this week am starting to skip any morning nursing session if I'm not uncomfortable. I'm guessing we'll be done by the first of the year.
- Formula - Luke has no problems with formula and now has a part of a bottle in the morning after nursing or instead. Two during the day and one in the evening. Usually about 6 ounces at each feeding.
- Cereal - This weekend we started adding cereal after the morning bottle and sometimes if he's still hungry he gets some at lunch time with his fruit.
- Baby Food - We've moved to Stage 2 foods and he eats a fruit at lunch and a veggie or meat and a fruit at dinner.
- He also has started eating "puffs" as an appetizer while I am getting his meals ready and he waits in the highchair.
- We've let Luke try some table foods too. He ate a pancake a couple weeks ago and last weekend ate 1/2 a biscuit. He's also fed himself saltines.
- We've introduced the sippy cup, but he's not great at it yet, but he does try to hold his bottle, so we're getting there.


Sleeping
- Finally, we're sleeping all night. Funny, it corresponded with when I started supplementing with formula after his evening nursing session. I think he just wasn't quite full enough to last all night. He now goes to bed around 7:30 and sleeps until I get him up between 7 and 7:30 on weekdays or around 8:30 on weekends.
- Napping. He normally naps about 30 minutes in the morning and 1 1/2 hours in the afternoon. However, on weekends, I can usually get the afternoon nap to last a bit longer.

That's all I can think of at the moment. He's such a sweet heart and everyone loves him. He's still incredibly social and smilely. Just want to eat him up sometimes :)