7 Months Old?!?

It is hard to believe that Gracie is already 7 months old, but she is! As you can tell by my lack of posts, and the fact that I missed commenting on her 6 month celebration, she's been keeping us very, very busy. I had no idea that such a tiny baby could be so busy. I think she takes after me (Erin) in that arena.

Over the past two months Gracie has been getting stronger and focusing all of her energy into her large muscles. She hasn't advanced much in her language skills, but it may be because she started a new daycare in mid February and the teachers speak many different languages. That's typical when listening to more than one language. Over the past week she started being a lot more vocal again (singing, talking) and I'm sure she'll catch up and maybe even learn another language or two in the process. We had to find a daycare in a hurry, but it turned out to be a really good place. It's not at all fancy or modern, but the people are very nice to her and the kids are 6 weeks to 10 months, so she has many daily interactions. She loves going there and doesn't seem to care much when we drop her off or when we are picking her up. So that makes us feel a lot better about leaving her.

Gracie had her first trip to the Emergency Room on my birthday. She had a very high spike in a fever and started shivering and her lips and hands turned purple. It was a scary afternoon, but she was fine by the time we got to the ER, and they tested her for many, many things and said it was likely just a virus. She's still a little sick with chest and head congestion, but her fever broke after 4-5 days.

She is working hard on crawling. So we put the baby gates up and are working to get the rest of the house baby-proofed. Her room is completely finished since she sleeps on a floor bed and could be up and about at any time. We have a gate at her door so she will be relatively safe within her room when she does start moving.

Some things she can to do (or has done over the past two months):

• Gives kisses (open mouth, usually with a runny nose...mmmm)
• Plays "get you" - When you give her "raspberries," she does it back
• Plays peek-a-boo
• Bangs on things to purposely make noise
• Inspects new things (looks at different angles of a new toy for example)
• Says "hi" and waves
• Signs "all done" (for everything...when she means: no, all done, wants something different, uncomfortable, etc.)...I had no idea it was such a useful sign, but she has figured out uses for it in over 50% of her daily interactions
  Smiles 95% of the time (no more serious faces)
• Laughs very easily (it doesn't take much...a tickle, a smile, a funny sound, animal noises, singing, etc.)
• Just started whining in the last week (mommy's favorite!)
• Holds her bottle
• Drinks from a cup by herself
• Goes to sleep on her own for both bedtime and naps (crying when being laid down for a nap has stopped in the last week - woo-hoo!)
• Grabs (or tries to grab) absolutely everything..and she is so stinking quick!
• Reaches up when she wants you to pick her up
• Sits up well, rarely falling over
• Reaches forward for things when sitting and pulls herself onto her hands and feet
• Pushes all the way up on her hands when lying on her belly
• Moves forward doing the inch worm (pulls knees up and scoots herself forward with her face on the floor)
• Moves backward by pushing with her arms when on her belly
• While pushing up on hands, pulls knees up to crawling position
• Pulls herself to a standing position

Likes:

• Her thumb
• Her toes (trying to eat them!)
• Other kids
• Anyone who pays attention to her (she's so friendly and outgoing, and will be such a flirt someday)
• Alone time when waking from a nap (she sings and talks to herself)
• Music
• Books (especially animal books and rhyming books)
• Swings
• Pulling hair
• Drinking from a cup
• Water
• Cheerios
• Avocado (50% of the time)

Dislikes:

• All other food it seems
• Being left alone in a room for more than a few seconds when playing
• The same toy or object for more than a minute at a time
• Socks and shoes

Things Gracie has done over the past two months:

• Went to the National Zoo
• Went to National Museum of Natural History
• Watched her first parade (St Patrick's Parade in Old Town Alexandria)
• Rode a real train in Stroudsburg, PA with Uncle Tommy, Aunt Amy and LT
• Attended a raucous St Patrick's Day Party at Aunt Tara and Uncle Charlie's house

Foods Gracie has tried:

• rice
• oatmeal
• millet
• cheerios
• Baby mum-mum crackers
• avocado
• sweet potato
• butternut squash
• banana
• mango
• papaya
• pear
• apple
• yogurt