miles.stones - seven months

Miles is shocked to hear he is seven months old, too!

Miles sixth month was a big one... it felt like a very significant transition from infant to baby. All of a sudden he seems soooo much more grown up! (I know I say that every month. Ahem). A lot of milestones and changes occurred this month that moved infancy further and further away. A few sniffles were had at saying a forever farewell to those precious baby days - but I am enjoying his growing personality and independence too!

Routine

Miles is on a rough 3.4-4 hour routine/cycle. Waketimes are about two hours in length. Once he was established on solids, (about 6.5 months) I got the nerve to drop the Dream Feed to see if he could sleep through for the solid 12 hours. He did!! Every now and then he might wake in the mid-evening for a feed, which is fine, but mostly my little dude is in bed and peacefully sleeping for 12 solid hours! I admit I do miss him a little.... but not enough to wake him, haha. But I did love and cherish those sleepy, cuddly, quiet evening feeds. They were precious bonding time. But I am glad he can get such good sleep too!

Routine is currently something like...

7.30am-9am – wake, feed, play, nap

11am-1pm – wake, feed, play, solids (sometimes), nap

2.30-4.30pm – wake, feed, play, catnap (just 30 mins or more if earlier naps have been interrupted due to plans)

5pm – wake, feed, play, solids, top-up feed

7.15/7.30pm – bed!

Sleeps 12 hours.

I think we will have to try and drop the catnap pretty soon as it's getting awkward to fit it in but also not sure he can do without it yet so might just see how he goes depending on the days events in the coming month or so!

Milestones and More...

Sooooo - we started solids – yippee!! It was fun to dive into Baby Led Weaning again for the third time. Such a big transition, introducing solids for my little guy! He has done really well.... more gung-ho than I thought he would be. For the first two weeks, he did a mixture of interested eating, playing with the food, sometimes not being interested, or not coordinated to pick up the food, etc. It was so cute seeing him work out how to pick the food up and explore! Then all of a sudden, about two weeks in, it was like a light switched on and he got serious. Now every time he is presented with food options, he digs right in, grabbing food sticks and gnawing away. He can polish off several food pieces in one setting (and there is proof on the other end how much he is consuming, haha). It is doing wonders for his fine motor skills too, I am so impressed by how he managed to pick food up. He is so gorgeous, the way he chomps and chews so intently. The older two watch him like hawks, cheering, coaxing and gushing over every bite. He is a lucky little baby to have such a doting cheersquad ;) I am offering food once or twice a day. It is a new routine for all of us to get used to, haha! So far he has had avocado (his first food, just like the other two kids!), beans, sweet potato, carrot, potato, broccoli and once he had toast with hummus. He loves 'em all!

Physically, he is happy just rolling around. He does these very cute little baby-push-ups (to straight arms, lifting up his torso) and is very wriggly and active but at the same time, he is pretty chilled and doesn't seem all too eager to get going anywhere. I don’t imagine he will crawl for a while (I am pretty sure my other two didn’t crawl till about 9 months... umm.... but I can’t really remember!) so we will just see what happens... he will lead the way! He gets plenty of floor time to play and explore. He sits great in the highchair but can’t really sit unassisted for more than a few seconds... I am kinda trying not to force that before he is ready either.

He loves to mimic (he and Eli have a great coughing routine going on), and can squeal and gurgle and growl at rather a high pitch.... 3rd kid gotta make himself heard!! Oh and I almost forgot - he now has two chompy little bottom teeth too.

We have also introduced the potty! As part of our previous habit of getting the kids into early potty training, we just casually start sitting him on the potty – usually just once a day or so. He has already done a wee on there – big cheers for that! :) Mostly the goal is just to make it a positive place and to learn the association  of what the potty is for. We use baby-sign and Elimination-Communication-type cues so that he can become familiar with the process and recognise his own cues too. Timing is key as well in this learning phase. The other two kids were nappy/diaper-free during the day at about 18 months so we will aim for something similar with Miles but will just see how it all unfolds for him, of course!

  

He is still the happiest, most sunshiney baby boy around. Everywhere we go, people comment on how happy, content and adorable he is. And he really is. He is our little delightful - the family treasure.

We love you, Baby Miles!

PS Lily asked the other day 'What are we going to call Baby Miles when he grows up and isn't a baby anymore?' 'Ummmm... Miles!?' 'Ohhhh'. A sign that the 'Baby Miles' nickname is pretty entrenched!