We’re back after a very relaxing week at the cottage. I got to sleep in many times thanks to my wonderful husband and my fantastic mom. Simon normally has me up at 6:00, so it’s a huge luxury to sleep in until 8:30. Nana fed Simon breakfast almost every day, and they also spent the early morning playing with toys and dancing to Tom Petty. We had a great time and can’t wait to return next year. Christopher and I agree that it would be easy to get used to living the cottage life.
Unfortunately we were terrible about remembering to take pictures, so I don’t have any with Simon and the grandparents. Most of the following photos are courtesy of Laura and Cameron (thanks guys!) I promise we’ll be more diligent in the future about getting pictures of Simon with his family.
Simon had many firsts at the cottage, including his first ride on Gramma and Grandpa’s boat and his first dip in a lake. He really enjoyed the lake but was a little uncertain about the boat. Watching the water was fun, but he wasn’t a fan of the wind and he definitely did not enjoy wearing his life jacket.
After at least two months of trying to get Simon to wave bye-bye, he started doing it spontaneously at the cottage. It’s so amazing to see him learn. He was also cutting four (yes, four) top teeth, and the sensation was making him lick his top lip back and forth. My dad told him that that move would make him popular with the ladies.
It seems like after Simon learned to wave bye-bye he opened the floodgates and a bunch of new skills emerged. He now claps his hands and he plays peekaboo with us by pulling his bib over his face and then pulling it down with a big smile on his face. He also searches for a toy if we cover it up with a blanket. Most thrilling is that he is standing for a few seconds unassisted before sitting down. It doesn’t look like much, but that’s always how it starts. Small steps lead to big leaps. I’m having visions of Simon toddling around the house while I chase after him.
Christopher and I have also learned that Simon now recognizes his favourite foods. He loves berries and baby mum mums (a biscuit for babies), but his favourite is the fruit smoothies Christopher makes for breakfast. Topher always pours them into our set of blue mugs, so when Simon sees Topher holding a blue mug he makes a beeline for it. We’ve tried distracting him but he has a one track mind when it comes to fruit smoothies. He asks nicely at first (uh uh!) but if he doesn’t get it fast enough he becomes more insistent (UNGHHHHH!) If Simon considers fruit a treat I guess we can’t complain.
-Leila
I know summer has arrived when I look at our calendar and every one of our weekends is booked for the next two months. So far we’ve been busy going to family get-togethers, visiting Christopher’s cousin Kristen’s new baby girl Claire, and making a trip down to Pittsburgh to visit friends. In the next month we’re going to our cottage vacation with the family (woo hoo!), a friend’s wedding and a couple of backyard barbeques. After being cooped up all winter it feels great to get out of the house and have some fun with Simon.
With great-aunt Eleanor
With dad and great-uncle David
With mom, Kristen, Claire, Laura and Hawksley
With Gramma and Hawksley
Overlooking the three rivers in Pittsburgh
About two weeks ago Christopher and I decided that Simon’s sleep issues weren’t going to go away on their own, so we implemented a plan. We got rid of the soothers and started laying him down in his crib awake. Every time he stood up we laid him back down until he finally fell asleep. The first time took almost an hour and he screamed the entire time since he’s used to me rocking him to sleep, but it’s gradually getting better. He goes down more easily and is sleeping for longer stretches. Neither of us can tolerate letting him cry it out so this is a good compromise. He cries, but at least we’re there with him. Teething, a cold, and vaccinations have all contributed to a few setbacks but we’re going to stick with it.
And speaking of teething, why didn’t anyone tell my how brutal it is? I thought it was bad when he was cutting his first two teeth but this is much worse. A lot of people swear by Camillia (a homeopathic remedy), but I don’t think it’s made much difference. So far rest and Baby Tylenol seem to be the only things that help, and they don’t help much.
Using mom’s chin as a teether
Face smush
We got Simon’s latest stats at his doctor’s appointment yesterday. At eight and a half months he’s now 30.5 inches tall and weighs 22 pounds 5 ounces. No wonder my biceps are huge.
-Leila
Three days ago Simon decided he could get into even more trouble if he started pulling himself up onto things after crawling over to them. At first the novelty of moving around was interesting enough on its own, but now Simon has discovered that crawling means he can do all kinds of fun things like getting into the trash, pulling books off the bookcase and yanking cords out of the socket. I don’t know what it is with babies, but they are most interested in the things you don’t want them getting into. Stacking cups pale in comparison to the thrill of the toilet brush.
Along with his ability to pull himself up there are many new things to report this week. Simon’s two bottom teeth finally emerged after an agonizing few weeks of teething. We got a small break, but the ear pulling and occasional whining fits have started up again so I’m guessing the top two are making their way down.
His babbling now includes da da da, ba ba ba, ma ma ma, and na na na, as well as a high pitched squeal accompanied by tongue rolling. Christopher calls it his battle cry.
His best new trick is smacking my hand when I say “gimme five!” It’s so cute that I’m working on getting him to add waving goodbye and clapping his hands to his repertoire. The faux hawk has given way to a full head of blond hair and he has started feeding himself cheerios and using his sippy cup without my help.
I often think how fortunate Simon is to have two sets of grandparents who love him so much. Both my dad’s parents died when I was very young and my mom’s parents lived in Ottawa, so we only saw them a couple of times a year. Simon will have the benefit of the love and guidance of four grandparents who also happen to be pretty great people. He’s a lucky kid.
-Leila
Simon has come down with a mild case of thrush. Along with the white patches in his mouth he also has a nasty diaper rash. Normal diaper ointments don’t help so we’re treating it with an over-the-counter anti-fungal cream and lots of bare bum time to air it out. This morning I had him naked in the bathroom with me when he started making the grunting noises that let me know he’s about to poop. Instead of rushing to get a diaper on him I just sat him on the edge of the toilet. It worked! I’m proud to say that Simon’s first poop in the potty was at the tender age of 7 1/2 months. He’s done it two more times today.
Some of you may think this is totally nuts but Simon has pretty regular bathroom habits (in the morning and in the afternoon) so I think I’ll keep putting him on the toilet when he lets me know it’s time to go. It saves diapers and a lot of messy cleanup.
-Leila
The big news this week is that Simon has crossed crawling off his to-do list. After a few days of tentative rocking back and forth, he’s on the move and can’t be stopped. I used to be able to plop him on the kitchen floor without any worries while I made dinner, but now I can’t take my eyes off him for a minute or else he’s helping himself to a fistful of dry cat food. I wouldn’t mind so much, but it’s light cat food and my baby needs the nutritional benefits of the full fat variety.
Aside from achieving that milestone, we are really enjoying Simon’s talking right now. Our favourite time of the day with him is the morning after we bring him into bed with us (in a desperate and futile attempt to get him to sleep just 30 minutes more). He usually lies on his back and rolls between the two of us, cooing and laughing while pulling his soother out and then popping it back in. Topher and I try to be quiet and lie still so we can enjoy the sounds of our baby talking to himself.
He’s also easy to delight lately. Tickles usually work best, but as you’ll see sometimes all it takes is tossing a toy in the air.
-Leila
Simon turned seven months old today. The difference between six and seven months feels huge to me, and I know I’ll blink and the summer will be over and he’ll be turning one.
We’ve had a rough couple of days with Simon’s teething. He’s very clingy and, as Christopher says, emotionally fragile. I’m pretty sure I saw the outline of both bottom teeth today, so I’m hoping I’ll see two little chompers emerge in the next few days. Meanwhile, distraction is key to keeping him happy. Trips to the backyard with dad to look at the trees and flowers are very popular, as is massaging his gums by gnawing on rubber ducky’s head during bath time.
-Leila
It sounds like such a cliche, but Simon seems to be changing by the hour lately. He’s sitting up on his own, rolling with ease and grabbing at everything in reach. If I put him on his hands and knees he rocks back and forth and occasionally scoots his butt forward. Today he reached an arm out while in this postion and reached for a toy. I think crawling is imminent, which means no more leaving him out of sight while I wander into the kitchen to put the kettle on. It also means Topher and I have to baby-proof this place soon to prevent Simon from trying to injure/maim/kill himself in new and interesting ways.
We’re also fairly certain that Simon is cutting a tooth. He has been drooling like a tap for a week or so (resulting in a rash over his cheeks and chin), and today he was fussy, warm and very clingy. Simon is usually too busy to cuddle so it was nice just to sit with him snuggled into me. Thank you baby Tylenol!
Toy hunter
Connecting with cousin Hawksley
Belly laugh
Learning to be just like his dad
-Leila
Simon decided to leave KISS and pursue a solo career. Here’s a picture from his first concert.
Thanks to Uncle Neil for his photoshop wizardry.
-Leila
Friends warned me to expect big changes in Simon’s bowel movements after starting solids and they weren’t kidding. Breastfed baby poop really is unoffensive - no horrible smell, doesn’t stain, etc. But this is a whole new ball game. Both texture and odour have changed significantly, and I no longer wonder if Simon’s gone number two. Now I can smell him across the room. The smell, however, is not the most startling indicator. It’s his totally uninhibited grunting and groaning that really tips me off. It’s pretty funny to watch him get all red in the face when he’s filling his diaper. Sometimes he looks sort of startled, but who can blame him? It’s a brand new sensory experience.
Here are a few pictures from a photo shoot we did a couple of weeks ago. It sums up his general pattern from when he wakes up until right before his next nap: happy, neutral, cranky as all get out.
And one more for good measure.
-Leila
Simon turned six months old yesterday. We celebrated by starting solid foods, and by solids I mean at-some-point-in-time-was-solid-but-is-now-a-mushy-runny-mess. We decided to forgo the prepared infant cereals in favour of veggies since cereal can cause gas and we’ve had our share of that already, thank you very much.
We’ve been putting Simon in his highchair for a while now because he gets bored easily and new places keep him satisfied for at least three minutes. We’ve also let him play with plastic spoons because he’s sick of all his toys and scoffs when I try to give them to him as if to say, “I’ve seen this before, lady. No dice!” Because the only new thing we were introducing yesterday was the squash he did surprisingly well. I was told that most babies don’t get the whole concept of eating at the beginning, but Simon puts everything in his mouth so it wasn’t too hard to get him to try it.
The whole experience was bitter sweet. It’s so much fun to reach milestones and try new things, but of course that means my baby is changing into a little person. It happens so fast. Slow down, Simon. Wait for me.
-Leila