All Sorts: O, how he's growing: Oscar from 6 to 7 months

He's 7 month old!! Still just about cuter than I can handle.

The past month has brought with it:

--Another cold + ear infection, and with it, another nursing strike...this time a week long! He's now back to nursing well, and enjoying it. Must be confusing to derive so much comfort from it one moment, then pain the next.

--A funky virus that upset his tummy and gave him a rash on his legs and arms.

--Getting up on all fours and rocking back and forth.

--Still scooting, but no crawling yet, although he is dying to. Our darn slippery floors make it hard to maintain traction!

--Has mastered sitting up and grabbing everything around him. We don't have to worry about him launching himself backwards onto his head anymore (although trying to get into crawling position from sitting has resulted in a couple face plants).

--Speaking of head injuries, he's had a couple the past month. He folded himself in half in his swing, sending it backwards, and him forwards, rolling out of his swing. The swing went into retirement. He also arch-backed himself out of a feeding and into the arm rest of our glider recently. m

--Right around 6 months I realized that Oscar definitely responds to his name. And I adore his name. It is so perfect for him. He is such an Oscar.

--This boy loves to be standing. We've put him up to Finn's train table a few times and he goes apey with excitement. He's got pretty good balance, actually. The other day I let go for a couple seconds and he stood on his own.

--Gets really excited to go outside on adventure and starts pumping his legs as we wait for the garage door to open. Also gets excited to come back home, doing the same when we open our front gate.

--Transferring objects from one hand to another. Still mouthing everything.

--Hates when it is time to sleep. As soon as we walk in his room and shut the door to start our wind-down routine, he knows it is sleep time and starts crying.

--He loves being in the shower with us, and the bath. Gets super excited and splashes like crazy in the tub, especially when Finn is in with him. He still likes to propel himself through the water on his back.

--At just over 7 months weighed 17 lbs 2 oz, 25th percentile on the WHO growth chart.

--Visits with Nana and Grandma. Grandma took care of him while mama worked and Nana continues to once a month (plus some fun times on the side when I get to join).

--More interaction with Finn. Good and bad. Finn loves to make him smile but some major jealousy is also coming out. It's rough to balance the needs of these two. Oscar gets toys snatched away from him and some rather aggressive "help" with swinging in his bouncer. Oscar is ignorant to Finn's feelings and just smiles and laughs at Finn, watching his every move. Nothing pleases Oscar more than getting to play with the same toys as Finn. I still can't get Oscar to eat if Finn is around. He doesn't want to miss out on the action!

Finn's work

This little boy really loves his papa. Jeremy loves to make him giggle until he's out of breath. He's got the greatest giggle.

Oscar is kind of a mama's boy right now. He is always so happy to see me and gets upset when I leave. He wants just me to hold him and comfort him when he's not feeling great. He's always got his big blue eyes fixed on mama.

Oscar has definitely developed a discriminating palate, a new thing for me since Finn always ate everything with gusto. He has started to put the kabash on things like my spinach-pea puree, but gobbles down other things, particularly fruit. His tactics include spitting out the offending food, pursing his lips and refusing another bite (then happily accepting an alternative), fussing/squealing until he gets a bite of something he likes. Quite hilarious. He has loved starting to suck on and chomp whole pieces of fruit via those little mesh net thingys. He recently nursed his first apple after nursing me. He was quite intent on that apple. So cute.

Oscar is still a cuddle bug. He's an alert and upright adventurer also, but he gets in the mood to be held, and burrows in for snuggles. A big difference I've noticed between he and Finn is that once Finn learned how to fall asleep on his own, when he was tired he would arch is back and want out of my arms, to be done with rocking and get in bed so he could fall asleep. Oscar dreads being put down. He protests it every time. Unfortunately, due to his birth order, the toddler requires attention while he sleeps.

I just love Oscar's mixed hair color and it's wonderfully soft texture. Can't believe he has so much when Finn was still bald at 1 year! Our two boys couldn't look much more different. There's a good chance we may end up with a ginger-top here! My grandad had ginger hair, and who knows what the combo of Jeremy and mine could produce. It doesn't seem like it will be bright orange, but it does have an orangey-ness to it, and I love it.

Between 6-7 months Oscar has slept through the night a few times. He's also had a few nights that he only wakes once to eat. But this Fall has pretty much been one perpetual illness, so his sleep has been rocky. That, in addition to his developmental milestone getting up on all fours, has given him troubles settling. I've been soooo tired. When normally we can put him down easily, we've found that he can't fall asleep on his own so well, so we go in to check on him and he's in the crib, up on on all fours, rocking back and forth,"I can't stop!!!" Same with some middle of the night situations.

He takes 3 naps per day, but his recent developmental milestone/illness recently made it harder for him to nap and he actually skipped one of his naps a couple days.

We still use that bjorn for naps occasionally when we need to be out of the house. He's starting to have a harder time staying asleep that way, so we try to nap him at home as much as possible. For now, we appreciate having a mite of flexibility.