James 7 Months, Claire 26 Months

It seems like James has officially left the infant stage and is a full-fledged baby now.  He sits up on his own for long periods of time and plays with toys.  Favorite toys include his snail, his zebra, and the stacking cups.  He's not officially crawling, but he can do an army-like scoot and get himself where he wants to go.  He can transition from his tummy to sitting up by himself.  He seems to have a radar system to detect anything that's either a) not a toy; or b) is a toy but one that Claire is interested in (actually that works both ways because Claire usually develops a sudden interest in whatever James has).  He can move remarkably fast when he sees something he wants to get his gums around!

James still isn't sleeping through the night, but we are making progress.  We took a break from letting him cry last week because he was sick and running a fever (another virus).  Last night, he fussed for 45 minutes once and for 20 minutes a few hours later but eventually put himself back to sleep without being fed.  We put him to bed around 7:30 and he usually is up before 6:30.  He normally takes three naps everyday.

I have made several big batches of baby food and our freezer is well-stocked.  So far, James has tried rice cereal, banana, sweet potato, avocado, oatmeal, pear, butternut squash, and peach.  His least favorites are the avocado and peach.  He will either eat everything very happily or not want anything at all.  It's hard to tell which way he will go at any given moment.

James still loves to see his big sister.  We have been able to roll a ball with him now that he can sit up.  I just love seeing them interact happily.  I think his first tooth on the bottom has barely broken through this week.  It seems to be taking its time.  His blonde hair is getting longer but continues to stick straight out all around his head.  Everyone comments about his fuzzy hair and many people (even some strangers) reach out to touch it.

James is wearing 6 month, 9 month and 12 month clothing.  It's hard to believe he can wear such a range, but the little t-shirts and shorts in the 6 month size still fit while things like onesies and pajamas are too short, so he needs a bigger size.  He's wearing size three diapers and weighed 19 pounds 9 ounces at his doctor's appointment last week.

All three of us seem to enjoy having places to go in the morning and we miss our school-year activities.  I have to work hard to keep them entertained at home, and we all were a bit grumpy after the sick days last week.  Claire has several "special" toys that she particularly enjoys playing with in addition to the toys she always has access to.  Favorites include play-doh, stickers, her first "real" puzzle, and the games of Memory and Candy Land.  She loves being outside but is only interested in swinging or finding flowers.  Claire memorizes things well and has quickly caught on to the days of the week and counting by 10s.  We have checked out some library books related to current interests and she enjoys the new, longer books.

Claire finds ways to get us into stitches at the dinner table and keeps everyone laughing when she's found the right punchline, which is usually an adorably mispronounced word or phrase.  Her conversational language skills are always getting better; she mimics our slang a little more than we anticipated (using words such as "yep", "oh...", and "sure") and she will now talk back and forth over the phone for about a minute. She has also started saying "I loev yeou mommy/daddy/James" all on her own. The greatest surprises these days are to get a sneak-attack hug around one leg, look down, and have Claire look back up to say: "I loev yeou!"

After over a month of spitting in the bathtub after we brush her teeth, Claire has started spitting in the sink again. We've switched her to regular toothpaste from the toddler kind and she hasn't seemed to mind the flavor change.  Claire sleeps from 8 pm until about 8 am every night with a 2-3 hour nap in the afternoon.  She is still a great eater.  She is wearing size 2T and size 5 diapers.

Both Claire and James are very happy to have Daddy around.  Claire asks where he is all day long and runs squealing to the top of the basement stairs when she hears the garage door open.  When he is in town, Matt handles the bath and bedtime routine.  I think he particularly enjoys reading to Claire and can't seem to resist the requests for one more book.