7 Month

The girlies are 7 months today.  And I'm actually writing this post on their birthday instead of scheduling in advance: I was totally unprepared for this milestone!  It was a kind of crazy day: either we wore the girls out yesterday, or they're having a growth spurt, or they're fighting off a cold; because they have only been awake for a grand total of 6 hours all day.  Poor things!  So please excuse their grumpy looking 7 month photos.  It was the best they would allow :-p

Aeralind Grace

My sweet girl, you have spent you entire 7th month on your stomach.  You learned to roll over back to tummy at the end of your sixth month and mommy has refused to roll you back every time you rolled.  Therefore, you have become very strong!  In fact, you are starting to be able to put your legs underneath you, although you have not managed to pick up your entire tummy for more than a few seconds.  You have learned to scoot backward semi-unintentionally and sometimes when we leave the room we'll come back and you'll be 3-4 feet from where we left you.  You can also put one of your feet against the ground and push forward to grasp the item of your desire.  You rotated 90 degrees on your tummy and propelled yourself about a foot forward to steal my spoon out of my cereal bowl!

Aeralind, you are so visual it's almost frightening!  At your 6 month appointment, you rolled over onto you tummy on the examining table and then positioned yourself so that you could watch the TV through the mirror.  We we go out to the library or to a store or restaurant, I call you the intimidator.   You will sit there and stare at everything with a deep look of concentration on your face as you try to figure things out.  You actually almost look like you're scowling. It cracks me up!

Your favorite foods thus far are peas and very cold pears, though you are particularly fond of oatmeal too.  You hate mango and do not really care for plums either.  You yell at me or coo the entire time I am feeding you solids because I take too long to feed your sister a bite before coming back to you.  You love to stuff your hand or thumb or bib in your mouth while I'm feeding you and that can be somewhat frustrating ;)

Yesterday, your daddy had you giggling so hard.  He was bouncing you on his knees and singing you some silly song. Normally your laugh sounds like you're wheezing but yesterday you were shrieking with glee.

Bronwyn Hope

My snuggly girl, you are thisclose to sitting unassisted. You love being upright.  You are so happy to be left in your exersaucer or in your booster chair with toys on the tray. You will squeal and talk to everyone who walks by. 

While your sister has spent the month rolling on her tummy (and you have spent the month pretending you didn't know how though you do), you have spent the month mastering the manipulation of objects.  You can grab anything left in front of you for mere seconds.  In fact more than once, I've sat the food bowl on your booster tray to pull your sister's hand out of her mouth and turned to see you grab it and stuff the whole bowl in your mouth.  You're also extremely proficient at stealing toys right out of your sister's hands.  You're also starting to use a modified pincher grip to grab thinner items; you use your thumb and middle finger rather than your forefinger.

You don't really have a favorite food.  You'll eat anything rather eagerly.  However, you're just a little unnerved by the taste of turkey when it's not mixed with a veggie. You don't nose dive for the spoon like your sister, but you politely open your mouth and 'chew' your food thoughtfully. At some meals you demand holding your own spoon; if you could just manage to hold it upright I could probably let you feed yourself ;)

Bronwyn, you love to the be the center of attention. When we go to the library for Bouncing Babies, you shriek with laughter and excitement whenever "Mrs. Perky Duck" greets you.  It cracks you up!  Just about every time someone talks to you, they are met with eager smiles.  In fact, last night you sat for hours on 13 year old Jacob's lap just flirting and smiling and rubbing his cheeks.  I think you thought you'd died and gone to heaven ;) 

Precious little girls, we are so blessed to call you our daughters.