Ryan - Month 7

Another fun month with the babe, and making progress towards some even bigger milestones.

• Bath time is always fun, but then getting ready for bed after the bath tends to be a challenge since Ryan is so tired by then.  We try to entertain him with toys or the dog while we put him in his pajamas and prep him for bed, but there's always a lot of whining and crying going on.  One night, he was sobbing pretty hard, and I went to close the cover on our thermostat (we hike up the heat during bath time so he doesn't get chilled, then cool it back down once he's dressed again).  I asked him if he wanted to help me close the thermostat and he very suddenly perked up, smiled, and shut the cover!  Matt and I cheered him on as he did this 3 or 4 more times, and now it has become his "job" after bath.  He is quite proud of himself every time he does it, and looks around to find Matt for approval and praise :)  So he has something to look forward to, and it has made our night routine a little easier.
• Another thing that has made our life a little easier is the fact that his hand-mouth coordination has caught on this month!  During meals, instead of whining for me to feed him bites, he now happily picks up pieces on his own.  And, boy, does he love food!  Everything that he tries, he loves.  It is funny to watch him eat so skillfully - he can get food to his mouth faster than I can break it into bite-sized pieces sometimes.  So meal time has become a fun event with a lot less stress for all 3 of us!

• His "talking" has turned to jabbering this month, and he can get out "mama," "dada," and "nene."  Right now, he doesn't have any association with these sounds, he is just trying them out.  But it is exciting to think that soon he will say "mama" and know that means me!
• One of the funny notes for the month I jotted down was that he started making what my sister Kim and I called the "Old Man Face."  I'm glad I wrote it down, because this phase has already passed, but it was a funny one.  He would curl his lips in, squint his face and move his jaw so he looked like a cranky old man without his dentures.  Cracked us up!

In his "Ready Stance"

• He was one step closer to crawling this month - he learned to push up onto his hands and knees in crawl stance and then rock his body back and forth like he was raring to take off.  Then he would get tired or frustrated and plop down onto his belly.  Matt needs to get a move on baby-proofing the house... :)