Emmeline - 7 months (Can you believe it!)

So Emmeline is 7 months old. I cannot believe how quickly she is growing. David bought be an infant beam scale at the thrift store, so I can tell you her exact stats.

Weight: 16 lbs. 15 oz. (59%)
Height: 26 inches (46%)
Head Circumference: 17 inches (62%)

She is really enjoying floor time and is getting the hang of playing now. I was checking the babycenter.com Milestone Chart and trying to find out what they mean by "object performance." (Edited to say: What this really is is "object permanence," which makes a lot more sense. Perhaps Dad should teach reading comprehension. Thanks for pointing out my typo, LAG!) They use the example of peek-a-boo. Well, Emmeline has been playing peek-a-boo for a LONG time. Starting at about 4 or 5 months, when I would take her pants off during her nightly routine, I would put them over her face. She would then pant with excitement, and wait a few second and then pull them off and grin really big. This went on until she was about five and a half months old and then she started to put anything within reach over her face, pant with excitement and then pull them away and give me a big grin. Who knew that this was "object performance" and was a normal milestone at 7 months! So smart, my child!

We have gotten back into a normal sleeping schedule after the craziness of Christmas and two infected ears. She now nurses 4 or 5 times during the day, one of which is a dream feed before I go to bed, and then once at night. She takes three bottles at daycare. She has finally gotten the hang of solids and LOVES them. Amy, her favorite teacher, mentioned to me that Emmeline would screech every time anyone else was being fed. Incredulously I sent a container of sweet potatoes to daycare the next day. We had been trying for weeks to get her to eat solids. I made my own baby food, I mushed up bananas and avocados, I mixed rice cereal - all to no avail. What finally worked was peer pressure. After that first serving at daycare, Emmeline hasn't looked back and now eats anything we feed her. She ate stage one foods for about two weeks and now is onto stage two.

The picture on the left shows her about 3 weeks ago. The one on the right was taken last weekend.

The other milestones she has met this month include:

sitting unassisted
scooting / crawling backward
going from hands and knees to sitting (she does this every few days, so I think she is almost ready to do it consistently)
stands while holding onto something (she can almost pull herself up in her crib)
waves good-bye
passes things from hand to had
understands cause and effect (that's the nice way to say "throws things off of high chair tray")
the above also means that she is beginning to experience stranger and separation anxiety

A highlight of the past week was her first injury - a black eye. She was on hands and knees and lunged forward for a toy and face-planted on it instead. Can I mention that David and I were both sitting on the floor with her. Geez, we felt terrible.

All in all she is growing into a beautiful child. I am really enjoying being her parent.