Cruising

This video was from a few days ago and already he's so much better at pushing things around. In addition to rearranging his toys, high chair and some of our furniture, he's been standing on his own more and more (though only for a second or two). Now if he'd just pop out those teeth already so we could get his sleep schedule back to normal. 

In other news, this morning he also tried to stand up in his high chair, so we've instituted a firm buckle policy from now on. This little guy is a very busy baby.

Seven Months

How can it be? Seven months already?

Stats: 

Height: 26 1/4" (either the dr's office was wrong, I mismeasured this time, or he shrunk)

Weight: 18.6 pounds

Foods (somewhat in order of preference): Pears, sweet potato, cottage cheese, yogurt, oatmeal, banana, carrots, peas, lima beans, green beans, roasted pepper, squash, kale, brown rice, beets, peaches, chicken soup, avocado. Up next? Broccoli and roasted cauliflower.

Tricks: Miles started using his "pinchers" to pick up bits of oat cereal and successfully got a few into his mouth yesterday. Also, he successfully dropped a million soggy ones onto the floor. 

He started testing his balance for a few seconds while standing today. Look Mom! No hands! 

Is just about to bust out two new teeth. Can you see them?

 

Has perfected the art of nose wrinkling and brow furrowing.

Is focused and determined....

And in my (totally biased) opinion, the cutest thing ever.

Fortress

I discovered a way to keep Miles more or less safe during the day while I work from my office (the couch). I like to think of it as Baby Fort Knox, that is until he figures out that it's not that hard to push the Poang chair out of the way. It's mostly padded, with lots of free space to roam and I can keep an eye on him as he sets out on a daily course to destruct everything in his path (including himself). He cruises from one piece of furniture to another, stopping only to come over and check out what I'm doing on my laptop. He's a busy dude. Lots of boxes to bang, egg cartons to throw, and rubber giraffes to chew.

Ba Ba, Ma Ma, Pfffft

His sounds are not particularly new, but doing them on cue is pretty exciting! I must admit, I can't wait until the "pfffft" stage is over. Only a mother can appreciate being spit on for hours.

These? They're My Pinchers!

Miles has discovered that his thumb and forefinger move, as he ceremoniously raises them pinched together. For a couple of days I could barely get him to eat because he was so enamored with these glorious things (that are miraculously attached to his body). It's been pretty awesome to see him figure out this stuff for the first time.

Pushing a Box

Miles loves pushing boxes around the room. He also loves to bang on things -- Jesse thinks we should get him a set of bongos. I vetoed a drum set for now.

Here's a video (a little long) of him doing his two favorite things at the moment. Also notice his "ba ba ba's" new sounds of the week. I keep hearing a few "Ma ma's" in there, but it doesn't really mean anything right now. He's not yet connecting names with people.

Tooth?

I think Miles is working on his first tooth. Aside from the fact that he's been a drool factory for almost a month now, this afternoon while I was feeding him lunch he just started whining and whimpering for no reason. He'd still open his mouth for more and would swallow, but had this pitiful look on his face like I was feeding him nails. During a particularly long sigh, I caught a glimpse at his bottom gums and there's definitely a little bump. This probably explains why he's been a little less cheerful than usual and derives such pleasure from gnawing on our end table. Poor guy. Let's hope this one pops out quickly!

Daddy Daycare 2.0

Jesse spent quite a few afternoons last week with Miles because I had a busy work week followed by an intense cold. After a rough morning filled with short naps and lots of drama, I handed Miles to Jesse in exasperation and declared that I was going to the grocery store for 20 minutes of peace. I came back and Miles was cheerfully playing in his high chair as Jesse worked in the kitchen. I asked what caused this miraculous mood change and Jesse said "oh you've never put him in a box?" Apparently, sometimes Miles just likes the confinement of a box. He happily tinkers with whatever you place in there with him -- in this case, it was another box. Seriously, why do we even bother with toys?

Toy Box

We picked up a toy box for Miles this weekend, since the priority mail box from a recent shipment seemed like a temporary storage solution. He's perfected the art of throwing toys out of the bin, now if we can just get him to put them back in!

This is Nap Time?

Miles learned a new nap time trick today. It's a good thing we decided to lower the crib mattress when we came back from vacation, otherwise he would have launched himself on the floor. It's just another baby plot to foil his precious sleep -- as I type he's roaming the crib trying to avoid bedtime. He's not put up a fuss yet, but I'm counting down the minutes of silence before he interrupts into a full-lung protest. This happened a few weeks (or months, I can't remember) ago when he learned to roll over in bed. Nights and naps were rough, maybe only for a few days, and then he went back to his usual happy self. 

Coupled with a cold this week, the restless nights have only intensified the effects of his stuffy nose (and mine). However, it was pretty awesome to see his beaming smile when we opened the door to find him standing there waiting for us to witness his greatness. He practically sailed out of the crib when we erupted in laughter over his non-nap today. Cold or not, I couldn't help but feel like I was the luckiest mom ever to have such an adorable kid.

Who Needs Toys?

We recently got a few packages in the mail and Miles has enjoyed playing in the boxes more than with his toys. That is, with the exception of one toy -- his rainbow piano that was passed down from Elliot. I think he's pretty proud that he can bang his hand down and make noise come out. I often wake up to the sweet sounds of Miles' personal symphony courtesy of Little Tikes. Yesterday afternoon he spent a good 30-40 minutes in his box, gnawing on the contents, banging away on his piano, and laughing uncontrollably. It was great.

Song Bird

Get this man an agent. He'll go far with that voice.

Lounging

I tried to capture Miles practicing his climbing, but he saw the camera and decided to ham it up instead.

Taking a Stand

Mom's empty emergency stash of M&M's provided motivation for Miles to hoist himself up on the bed over and over again. Tunes by McDougall, stunts performed by MC Gelwicks.