Dear Henry - Month 7

Dear Henry,

Happy 7 month birthday!

Proof that sleeping is something that used to be "your thing."

It’s a day late this month because we spent your actual 7 month birthday camping.  We went back to Crazy Acres for the 4^th of July and you did SOOOO much better camping.  It turns out that you don’t hate nature at all!   You’re actually a pretty decent camper, despite the fact that at some point during this trip, you decided you don’t need to sleep anymore.  Like, ever (this is written as I listen to you voicing your strong disagreement about the current nap situation).  On our last night camping we set you all up at your Grandma and Grandpa’s place so you could have a sleepover.  We got home around 10:30 and were just getting ready for bed when your Grandma showed up with you wide awake and giggly in her arms saying that you wouldn’t sleep.   That was new!  You’ve always been a really good sleeper!  We are apparently suffering a setback.  Either that, or you were just having too much fun camping and didn’t want to miss a minute of it!

This trip was your first time in a baby pool.  You did pretty good!  You also got to sit in the grass and you LOVED to watch all the dogs playing.  You are a dog person for sure.  This may be the only clear way you take after me at this point.*

It looks like she is guarding you, but I'm pretty sure she's just waiting for you to make her some food.

In fact, you’re taking a much bigger interest in the animals in general these days.  Someone should probably warn them.  The cats pretty much stay far away from you, but you like to watch them as they move around you.  Daisy is the only one brave enough to get close to you and you have learned how to pay her back for all those surprise face kisses by grabbing her ears and her jowls.  Just this afternoon you were playing with her feet while she was trying to sleep.  You two must have some kind of agreement because she tolerates the manhandling and you tolerate the incessant (annoying!) licking.  In fact, when she licks your hands now, you giggle like crazy.  It’s incredibly cute to watch you two together sometimes.

 This month you got to meet your “Auntie” Margy.  She came all the way from North Carolina to meet you.  She made me sneak her into your room in the middle of the night because you were sleeping when she got there.  I think she was a little bit smitten with you.  This seems to be the way of things.  You can be pretty charming when you want to be, and we spent almost the whole time she was here doting on you. 

All that doting was well timed because just a couple short weeks later your dad and I spent our first weekend away from you.  I am happy to report that we all survived.  It was way less difficult than I thought it would be.  Mostly because I knew you were in good hands.  You stayed with Grandma Julie and Grandpa Jerry and they took you to a birthday party where you got to hang out with the whole family.  I knew you were having fun too.  It sounds like you didn’t miss us at all, and I was happy to hear that.  It would have been much harder for us to have fun if I had been worried that you were sad without us. We did miss you, but we had lots of fun on our own and came back refreshed and very excited to see you!  The feeling might have been at least a little reciprocated.  The evening we brought you home, I was sitting on the couch after laying you down on the floor to play and the next thing I knew you were rolling up against my legs grinning and giggling like crazy at me.  It’s going to be worth going away sometimes in order to come home to sweet moments like that.

We celebrated our first Father’s Day this past month.  You bought your daddy a book called “geek dad” – full of cool geeky projects for you and your dad to do someday.  I bought your dad a sewer hose for the camper.  Your daddy is a lucky guy.  I was going to make your dad do a blog post in honor of the occasion, but time got away from us.  Time seems to do that a lot these days.

You seem to be set on level 10 rapid fire learning and growing mode right now.  At your 6 month appointment you weighed almost 19 pounds and were about 26 inches long.  Somehow you seem bigger than that.  You’re getting the hang of sitting up by yourself and I can see you getting a little stronger every day.  When we first started sitting you up, you could do it only by propping your arms on your legs and leaning forward (which inevitably led to a face first tumble onto the floor).  Now you can hold yourself up unsupported for short periods of time and despite the fact that you still roll around like a weeble wobble, this seems to be your preferred way to lounge.  When you’re not learning how to sit, you’re learning how to roll over and <gasp, cry, choke> crawl!  No, you’re not crawling yet.  But you’re just one lightbulb moment away from it, you little turkey.  You’ve learned how to roll yourself completely over and have used that to maneuver yourself around a room.  The day I brought you home from your 6 month check-up, you chased the little book they gave us across the whole room by rolling and wiggling.  These days if we put you on your tummy, your arms and legs work furiously in a crawling motion.  I think once you figure out how to get yourself up on your knees, you’re going to take off like a firecracker and there will be no stopping you.  Heaven help us all.

 We officially want to freeze this moment in time.  You are so much fun right now.  Everyone comments on how good natured you are, and it’s true.  You are almost always in a good mood.  When you have rare moments of temper, your dad and I look at each other completely befuddled because they are SO outside of the norm for you.  You love to laugh and talk and shriek.  You are pretty easy to entertain and you seem to be content to hang out with just about anyone right now.  You’re starting to recognize us more – your little face lights up when you spot one of us and you seem to notice if one of us is missing.  You’re also starting to reach for us when we hold our arms out for you – let me tell you, little guy, I’ve been waiting 7 long months for THAT moment, so it’s more than a little gratifying. 

These summer days are the sweetest we have ever known and sure, the grass isn’t getting mowed and the weeds have completely taken over my flower gardens (I keep wanting to go rescue my lilies, but I try to remind myself that there will always be more lilies.  This time with you at this glorious stage  - is fleeting) and the house inexplicably and stubbornly smells like dog – but the days have never been sweeter.  We’re so lucky to be your parents.  That’s maybe not something you’ll hear us say a lot by the time you’re old enough to understand what we’re saying, so I guess I just want to make that clear now. 

Love and kisses all over,

Mama

*Henry at 6 months and me at about 6 months.  Despite the lack of resemblance, we're pretty sure he's mine.