Seven Months Old!

Another month has too quickly gone by. Avery is growing up way too fast! According to the bathroom scale, Avery now weighs 18.8 pounds.

The biggest development over the past month? Avery is now crawling - EVERYWHERE and VERY QUICKLY! The crawling literally developed over the course of a few days just last week. She started by doing the "commando" crawl, where she would use her arms to pull the rest of her body along. All too quickly she figured out that she could go much faster if she used her knees as well.

Avery has explored every inch of the first floor of our house, and she really likes to crawl over to the dishwasher and wine refrigerator. She can see her refection on those surfaces, and she LOVES to look at herself! She likes her reflection so much that we tease her by singing Carly Simon's, "You’re So Vain" to her quite often. Nanny Nancy bought Avery her own mirror to play with on the floor, and she will sit and look at herself for awhile. Speaking of sitting up, Avery has pretty much figured that out too. She sat up and played for 30 minutes one afternoon without a tumble. While she is capable of sitting, the problem is that she rarely sits still for more than a few minutes at a time!

Napping is still hit-or-miss, but I think it is getting a bit better. We have all worked hard to get her into a routine, and she is starting to take to it. Here is Avery's typical day:

Between 5:30 and 6:00 am - Early Morning Bottle, then back to sleep

Between 8:00 and 9:00 am - Wake up for the day

Around 9:00am - Breakfast Bottle

Around 10:30 am - Brunch (fruits or veggies)

Around 12:00pm - Lunch Bottle, then MAYBE fall asleep

Between 12:00 and 1:30pm - Possible nap - if no nap, then play

Around 3:30pm - Afternoon Bottle

Around 4:00pm - Possible cat nap, especially if no full nap earlier

Between 6:00 and 6:30 pm - Dinner (fruits or veggies)

Around 7:30 or 8:00 pm - Bathtime (not every night)

Between 8:00 and 8:30 pm - Bedtime Bottle

Between 8:30 and 9:00 pm - Bedtime!

This child is quite a good little eater. She is not a fan of avocado or peas, but she will begrudgingly eat them if they are mixed with something else. She still loves sweet potato, but I think peaches are her new favorite. She also eats green beans, pears, apples, bananas, rice cereal, and oatmeal cereal. Also new this month? Gerber Puffs, which are basically a precursor to cheerios. We weren't sure if she would be ready for them, but she takes them down like a champ! I give her a few at a time as an appetizer while I make her meals.

I think part of the reason that she does so well with the Puffs is that she now has 2 bottom teeth, with another tooth just breaking through on the top left! The teething makes her a bit fussy, but nothing too bad. Over the next couple of months, we are going to try to add a third "meal" and possibly reduce a bottle.