Month 7 Already? Family, Food, Floors and Fairs

Oh my goodness, you're 7 months old already! Look at that happy boy- that's you! it's not long ago that you were in your Mom's belly, and now you smile, you "talk," you scoot, you roll, you play, you laugh, you're sooooooo close to crawling and you're getting cleverer by the day.

For example, the other day I walked into the bathroom (where mirrors live) to play one of your favorite games, "Who's that Baby?" (This is played by looking into the mirror where you laugh and giggle and smile at your reflection and I say "Who's that Baby?" repeatedly in a silly voice. It's much better than it sounds on paper). Anyway, we walked into the bathroom and the lights were out. We begin to play the game, but instead, you reach for the light switch! I do play the lightswitch game with you a lot (on, off, on, off)-- but that just blew me away that you reached for the switch. Could it have been a fluke? Sure! But, I like to think that you're just super clever and knew that you can't play "Who's that baby" with the lights off!

And you're so clever that you know when Mommy and Daddy are eating...and get kind of cute/upset when the food's not for you. Once at a grocery store, your Mom and I were eating free samples. Every bite we took, you'd open up your mouth to get a bite. But you couldn't eat spicy queso! You were so upset that you cried!

During breakfast one day, you were watching longingly as your mom ate a bagel...
One day, big man, but not yet. At this point you weren't even 7 months old yet! The lead up to your 7-month birthday was filled with family and fun and floors and food...and even a fair.

You celebrated your first Rosh Hashana Dinner with Mimi and Pops, and we invited your Godparents, BJ and Kari too!

You really amazed everyone by eating a whole heck of a lot! And then Mimi and Pops gave you a new toy, a bear name (I'm not kidding), Caleb B Beanster. Well, you LOVED Caleb B Beanster- you grabbed him and started squealing and screeching and laughing! We think that you thought he was a dog!

After dinner, we all played on the floor!

You also got to celebrate your first Break fast for Yom Kippur, though we did it a little differently this year: it was a brunch break fast the next morning (don't worry, nobody fasted an extra 6 hours). Jeremy and Michelle and almost-Brady joined us for that!You really impressed everyone by eating a huge breakfast, including a whole banana!

Then we played on the floor! (noticing a pattern?)

The weekend before your monthi-birthday, your Uncle Taff and Aunt April, along with Addison and Autumn came to Dallas to go to the fair with you (and the rest of us).

But, on our Fair day it rained the whole time! Grey skies and lots of rain mean indoor activities. So everyone went to the mall, where you got to experience the craziness that is a "soft play area" on a rainy day.

Actually, except for a brief forray into a hippo's mouth for a photo op with Addison, you witnessed the craziness from the sidelines. The most action you got was when a little boy sat down next to me and said "Excuse me, may I pet your baby?"

How could I say no?

So some kid pet your back while your cousins played!

Uncle Taff and Aunt April and family were really happy to hang out with you, even if we were at the mall!But, worry not, the next day the clouds cleared up and we got to go to the TEXAS STATE FAIR! This was your second visit, technically. But I'm guessing you don't recall your first visit.

So you got to soak in all the fun in the sun (and the shade...it was cool in your morning and you got to wear your cool hoodie sweatshirt for the first time).

You strolled with your cousins:

Proxy shared a corn dog:

Took in the sights:Saw Big Tex:

Made friends with Autumn:

Got strapped in by Aunt April:

Helped me hold a Turkey Leg (Holly forgive me for posting the mid-bite picture!):

And fell asleep:

You hung out with these nuts...You might have wanted to ride the rides with your cousins, but you're not quite Big Tex enough yet...So we had to watch from the sidelines...but maybe next year you can ride the rides!So, you understandably had nothing to say on that topic.You're still a bit too young to ride the crazy animal train or go in the house of mirrors, but we can't believe you're as old as you are...

Before we knew it you were 7 months old already!

And the fun is just beginning!

What Big Boys Do: the 6-month difference

Well, somehow Labor Day passed and now it's mid-September! I may have been neglecting this journal, but I promise you, I haven't been neglecting you, Aidan!

You are so much fun to play with and feed and hang out with. It's so rewarding to bathe you and get peed on and change poopy diapers. It's also nice when your Mommy does those things too. Except you only seem to pee on me. We need to talk about that.

But anyway, man, so much has been happening! We finally got in your 6 month pictures and they are, of course, adorable and, yes, kind of funny too. You're going to kill us for some of these when you get older; but that's one of the perks of being a parent. But they were also really eye-opening to see photographic evidence of what a cute little kid you've grown into. You're not a newborn anymore!

7 days on white:

6 months on white:

7 days (in a basket):

6 months (not in a basket):

A few-week-old feet:

6-month-old Feet (both in Daddy's hands, for your reference):

1-ish-month old Family shot:6-month-old family shot:

I even got in on the photo-taking action too:

8-weeks old in the blue chair:

6-months old in the blue chair:

So, it's now been proven that you're now a big boy. Or at least a bigger boy than you were when you first arrived on the scene.

And what do big boys do?

Well, big boys eat in their high chairs! (Which just so happened to be the same high chairs that their daddy's ate in as boys).

Yeah, you don't look too thrilled to be in the chair. But your attitude toward the chair actually got worse. And so we stopped using it altogether until we figured out that you were probably uncomfortable, so we stuffed the Bumbo chair in that sucker and now you LOVE the high chair! Well, you love eating, anyway! Most days - especially now that you're eating big boy food for breakfast and dinner- you scarf down your food. Except when it's liquified "country dinner." You hated country dinner. Every bite looked like this:But, hey, that's what big boys do: They express their opinions! And, boy are you expressing yourself. You definitely have opinions about things like...

Rice Cereal made with water is 'meh.'

But rice cereal made with breast milk is AWESOME! (that's what you say, we don't eat it).

So, it's a game of hit-or-miss trying to feed you, with all these preferences, but, you're definitely not starving.

Big Boys are crafty too. They figure out quite quickly how the suction-cup toy sticks to the high-chair tray.They also figure out quite quickly that delicious food dropped on the high-chair tray is still delicious if they "finger paint" around in it for a while and then suck on their fingers (mmm carrot tomatoe puree never tasted so 'earned!')

Big boys also get their chompers brushed (and boy do you LOVE eating that flouride-free toothpaste.) ("it says 'nontoxic'...that's a plus!)

Big boys also know how to look cool:They know how to BE cool:

And even how to be cool while sleeping!

See? Big boys even DREAM of crawling...and they practice during the day too:

But, they also know how to just relax with their friends...and kick their feet up and enjoy the ride