Bellebration – 7 months

Dear Belle,

I’m a bit late for your 7 month Bellebration, but it’s been a busy month so I’m sure you can understand! Oh, and what a month it’s been!

This month you visited 2 countries and 6 cities: Sao Paulo, Bogota, Barranquilla, Santa Marta, New York and various cities in New Jersey. You can see pictures of those trips here:

You managed to worm your way into mommy and daddy’s bed. For 6 months you slept in your crib, but after cuddling in Brazil and Colombia with mommy, you got used to it and there was no getting you out of our bed! You also decided that night time is the best time to fill up on breast milk, so you sleep attached to mommy’s breast, nursing through the night. Yes, I know, poor mommy, huh.

This month your development exploded. You perfected crawling and you are now a speed crawler! You started off the month with a gimpy crawl, where you’d use your right knee but your left foot, but now you crawl absolutely perfect and very fast.

You learned how to wave bye bye and how to dance when we sing “Tin Ton, Tin Ton, Tin Ton el bailecito, Tin Ton Tin Ton Tin Ton”. You started playing games with us, including “PeekaBoo” and “A Dormir!”. You started calling food “Ba-ba” and whenever you are hungry you slap the table with the palm of your hands and demand BABA very loudly. You even stole your brother’s food a few times by demanding BABA! Oh, and you stole a few licks of daddy’s sorbet and convinced him to let you try a strawberry sorbet. Oh, and half of your games are in Spanish, so we think you understand both languages very well.

You started saying PAPA and have had an explosion of sounds and have even said a few words! We heard you say “agua” and “more” and “caca” and have all sorts of new sounds you’re playing with. MAMA is old school by now.

You have decided crawling is boring and all you want to do is stand and practice walking. Crawling is simply a means to get to the next place for you to pull up and practice walking. Your balance has gotten so much better this month, and we’ve even seen you let go of both hands and stand up by yourself for a few seconds!

You terrorized your poor friend Maxx, who asks that you please not come back to see him until you’re all grown up and can play nice.

You have become the queen of the mall playground. You love going and love being admired by all of the parents there who are amazed to see such a little baby doing so much. You even had your first fight. A little boy pushed you when you were in the tunnel, and you got mad at him and started babbling angrily in his face. And you went back to the tunnel and when he tried to go through it, you blocked his way and wouldn’t let him through, while letting all the other kids through. Yes, you got your mommy’s temper 🙂

You went to your first MyGym class and to your first music class! And loved it! You LOVED all the instruments and songs at music class, and were amazed that you had so much space to crawl and explore at the MyGym.

You wrapped daddy around your finger a few more times and have fallen recklessly in love with him. You cry if he leaves the room and want him to hold you all the time. Mommy is old news now. Snif sniff.

You went swimming in the ocean for the first time.

You drank coconut milk straight from the coconut. You started eating so many new things, including rice, sweet potatoes, peas, turkey, beef, fish, potatoes, yams, oatmeal, and pretty much everything we gave you, you ate.

You love swinging.

You overcame stranger anxiety. You don’t like being alone anywhere. The other day you were in your play area and everyone was busy, so you started screaming. We brought Nathan down and put him in the play area with you, and all of a sudden you were perfectly happy. Having your brother with you brings you a lot of joy and comfort. He is such a great big brother!

Changing your diaper and clothes is a DRAMA. You scream and whirl and twirl and we ended up chasing you all over the changing table. I think you would be happy being naked all the time!

And sitting you in your car seat…wooof! It’s quite a feat! You hate it and get so rigid it’s almost impossible to have you sit down so we can buckle you in! But once you’re in, you’re happy.

You have your two bottom teeth fully out, and the two top ones are working their way out.

You can grab anything and are pretty good about passing things from hand to hand. You’re still working on the pincer grasp.

Oh and have I mentioned that you are still not sitting? You seemed to skip that developmental stage. Why sit when you can move move move??!!

You are such a strong-willed, determined, active little girl. You bring so much joy to all of our hearts. You complete us. And your brother loves you so much.