7 Months

Baby J is 7 months old today! 

These photos are getting harder to take every month - he is quite the squirmer lately and we had to grab him several times during this shoot so he didn't face plant off the chair or climb over the sides.

It's very true what all other parents say --- that each month gets more and more fun.  Jackson is changing daily and it's so fun to watch and to interact with him more and more. 

Here some recent highlights:

• Reaching and army crawling towards things he wants that are just out of his reach --- we've caught him going after his toy box several times lately.  Speaking of army crawling, he can't really make it too far forward; however, he can scoot pretty far backwards.
• Clapping!  He won't clap along with us and stops clapping when we start clapping along with him or say 'yay!' when he's clapping, but he started while playing over the past weekend and we've been catching him clapping several times a day since.  This morning, I left him on the floor of his room to play while I went to grab something and when I returned, he was clapping with his back to me so I was able to just watch him.  So adorable.
• Taking more and more long naps (1.5-2 hours) and sometimes, if it's been a good nap day, only needs two naps --- one in the a.m. and one in the early afternoon.
• Loves Mum Mums, Cheerios and bananas.  The kid can polish off an entire banana in one sitting, it's amazing.  He doesn't love too many other solids (fruits are better than veggies and yogurt seems to be okay), though we continue to force bites in 2-3 times a day.
• Continues to love being out and about, especially when we go out for dinner.  He's an angel baby the evenings we eat out.
• Reaching up/out to be picked up when you're near.
• Enjoys playing with more interactive toys and especially loves his pop-up toy --- we open all the doors and he loves to shut them all.
• Is quite the chatterbox - he's constantly "talking" and is using more and more vowel sounds every day.  His favorite thing to say is 'ba ba' over and over.  No clue what it means, but it's very cute.
• Still loves flipping over to sleep on his tummy.  He also loves rolling around and shimmying to all sides of his crib.  A few weeks ago, we caved and bought a video monitor and we love being able to check on him, especially as he's moving all around before falling asleep.
• Is now in a big boy car seat (i.e. it stays in the car and he can't be carried around in it) -- he was getting way too heavy and way too long for the portable one.
• Most of his 9 months clothes are getting small (or are already too small) and he's in all 12 month PJs thanks to those long legs of his.

It's crazy to think that at 7 months, he's closer to his 1st birthday than he is to being born.