My busy seven-month-old. . .

He’s giving me grey hair! Or . . . more grey hair!

Or technically “Thu Byoode Uv Flowrs”

When Daniel saw this, he remarked, “Oh, ‘The Beauty of Flowers.’ Which I’m sure has never been spelled that way before.”

Earlier in the month I promised six month pictures of David, and his 6-month “sick/well baby” visit today reminded me I haven’t posted those yet.

He weighed 20 lbs. 2 ozs. (75th percentile) , measured 28 inches long (80th percentile), and his head circumference was 18″ (90th percentile). Compared to our others, he has the distinction of being both the heaviest (with Carissa a close second) and the most proportional. All our kids have had large heads (mostly 95% and up), but  their weight & length were closer to the 50th percentile.

David nursed exclusively about 5-1/2 months when I started rice cereal. He still eats rice cereal/baby oatmeal for breakfast (along with a fruit) and for dinner (along with a vegetable) and lunch is a combination of fruit/veggies. Like all of our kids, he’s a good eater, but maybe (thankfully) isn’t eating as much as Carissa was. I’m hoping that was part of why she weaned herself at 8 months–preferring food over milk–and hoping that less food will keep him nursing till he’s 12 months like the older two. (The cost of formula is ridiculous! Not to mention the health benefits of breastfeeding.)

He sits in the bouncer seat to be fed, and Daniel and I were talking yesterday. “Isn’t that the seat Mara slept in for two months?”  It is. . . when she had projectile vomiting as a baby, the pediatrician recommended that she sleep in a bouncer seat. “It’s held up well through four kids.” I think that was Daniel, being nostalgic!

Another little tooth popped up this week, so he has two now.

The days of the Baby Einstein Activity Mat are behind us now. I think back to my little Mara playing on that mat, as we begin to discover her little personality for the first time. And each of our children has enjoyed it. . . Oh, I’m hopelessly sentimental.

Now that David is mobile, the jumparoo feels to him more like solitary confinement than playtime! I still have it out–sometimes I need him to be in it!

He’s rolling, sitting, crawling. . . and since I haven’t babyproofed the house this time around, he’s handling that for me. 😉 He is our earliest crawler.  No longer doing the “rock-and-dive scooch,” he is seriously crawling where ever he wants to go. Yesterday he was at the stairs, and he reached up, put both hands on the bottom step and started bouncing up and down with a huge grin on his face. Oh, boy. . . he is mobile!

Everything tickles this boy. Even when I fasten his diaper and lightly touch the sides of his tummy, he laughs and squeals his ticklish laugh. Micah takes advantage of this: he places his hand on Davey’s tummy and rocks the poor baby back and forth wildly. David loves it–laughs hysterically!

He and Micah share a room. Every morning I hear them “playing” together over the baby monitor before I wake up. Usually between 5:30 and 6, one of the boys wakes up and starts “calling” to the other one. I put “calling” in quotes, because David “calls” by saying consonant sounds–like “DAH!”–or simply by shriek-screaming at Micah, which of course is quite effective at awakening him. Micah adores little Davey. He can’t wait to play with him every morning, and many mornings when Micah wakes up first, David is ready for a nap again by breakfast.

David loves his Daddy! Whenever he hears Daniel’s voice or sees him walk in the room, David begins flapping his arms wildly and a huge smile envelops his face until Daniel picks him up. Even dinner can wait if Daddy’s here! If David is on the floor when Daddy comes home from work, he’s learned to pad over to the door like an awkward little puppy, and look up, waiting expectantly till Daniel scoops him up off the floor.

David loves to be thrown in the air. He loves to “chase” the older kids (well, he loves to be in my arms as I chase the older kids). He laughs so heartily–he so clearly wants to be one of the big kids. His motto, I say, is “No child left behind.”

He brings us–all of us–so much joy! It’s really hard to imagine that he hasn’t always been part of the family.

So here he is. . . my six-month-old!

{click on the collage to enlarge it}

 

You know you have a city kid when she brings you her puzzle of planet earth.

“Look!” Mara exclaimed. “This is planet Earth! And this is all the waterrrrr, and all the grassssss, and these are all the sidewalks!”

She’s been “teaching” Micah and Carissa about earth and showing them how to “put together the puzzle.”

 

As a child, I loved it when the mail came. I had a penpal from Ohio and another penpal in Norway, as well as cousins and friends from places we used to live who wrote me. My “Best Earth Buddy” (aka B.E.B.) in New Jersey exchanged epistle-length letters with me on a regular basis throughout junior high and into high school. So it seems, whenever the mail arrived, there was always something “on the way.” I remember expectantly asking Mom or Dad, “Was there anything for me?”

In elementary school, I also loved signing up for “free” samples–it didn’t matter what it was–I collected UPC codes and circled receipts. . . My favorite was a free Detroit Pistons basketball. I wasn’t a Pistons fan. I just thought it would be cool to get a free basketball in the mail in exchange for the receipt for buying liquid dish soap.

I’m all grown up now, and our mail like yours is largely credit card offers, other advertising, and bills. As the USPS continues to shrink, I can’t help wondering if it will still be around by the time I have grandchildren. So for posterity, here’s an exciting mail day in 2012!

First, a hand-addressed thank-you note from the garage where we took both of our cars this weekend. I think that was a first! I have to say: I was impressed. I think we’ll be going back. It’s the little things you know.

Second, my new Crocs came! I was so excited! I have been waiting every day for these to arrive. They were on a great sale. Regularly $29.99, but on sale, just $17 and free shipping. My previous pair of Crocs lasted only one year–the year I was pregnant with David–and by the end of the pregnancy, one side of my right shoe was so worn down that I couldn’t wear them without getting a backache! I must pronate that direction, but I loved that pair of Crocs though–wore them constantly–and I’m hoping that maybe this pair will last longer, now that I’m not pregnant.

Along with the Crocs came a birthday present for Micah.  (A little background: My friend Donna gave Micah some green Crocs that used to be her son Beaux’s. Well, Micah loves those Crocs, and I’m hoping they will fit him all summer. He also recently “retired” a pair of light-up shoes that he absolutely loved.) When I was ordering my Crocs, I saw  a “light-up” Buzz Lightyear Jibbitz!  It was $3.39 with free shipping. At first I thought $3.39 for Jibbitz?! I won’t pay $3.39 for Jibbitz! But then [laugh if you will] I justified it, saying, I’m not just paying $3.39 for Jibbitz. I’m paying $3.39 to create light-up Buzz Lightyear shoes that Micah will wear till his toes are busting through or till they fall apart! (Put it that way, and it sounds to me like a great birthday present! Check them out: Do a search on the Crocs.com website on “light up” and you will find a couple of pages of options of Light up Jibbitz.)

I almost forgot it was in the package and when I pulled my Crocs, it fell out. Thankfully none of the kids noticed (although Mara asked numerous times what it was).

Last, my Good Cooks bakeware set from Proctor & Gamble’s Breast Cancer Awareness program arrived today. I was so excited!

Sometime late last fall, Shoprite offered a free pink Good Cooks bakeware set to those who bought two large packages of paper towels and mailed in the receipt from the purchase. I needed paper towels anyway, and it was Bounty, select-a-size, which we always buy. So I ordered the bakeware set.

I loved the pink tissue paper covering everything.–It felt like Christmas opening the package!  There was a set of 3 mixing bowls with lids (the lids being my favorite part, when I chill cookie dough, etc., I always wish there were a lid for the mixing bowl!), a set of 3 liquid measuring cups, a cookie sheet, a silicone cookie sheet/dough-rolling mat, and a spatula. The offer had also included a free oven mitt. But take a close look:

“Dear Valued Shopper,

“We hope you enjoy your Good Cooks’ Hope Line Pink bakeware set. Regrettably, we have experienced production issues on the pink glove and hope your will accept the enclosed $10 Prepaid card to replace the glove. Thank you for supporting Breast Cancer Awareness program by buying P&G products.”

Inside the envelope was a $10 Visa Debit Card!! Essentially, they gave me $10, in addition to the bakeware set! (Hmmm, I think I already know what I will use it for!)

My husband says, “They gave you $10? Well, thanks to you, there is less money than ever before going to actual breast cancer awareness.”

He knows how to make me feel guilty!

I’ll advertise to make up for it, I say. I’ll tell everyone I know that Proctor & Gamble sent me a pink bakeware set as part of their Breast Cancer awareness program.

So there. Now I’ve told everyone.