At 7 months, we think Coraline is about the happiest baby ever. In the mornings, she will talk and talk and smile and loves playing with Jameson (Jameson is sometimes slow about getting ready because he loves playing with her so much; he’s very into “taking noses” from Coraline and putting them back right now). She’s very vocal, I think because she doesn’t have a pacifier, it seems like she is always saying something. Several family members have said the she’s been saying “da da da” in the babbling baby ramblings she does!
She is also very grabby still. This month she really learned how to eat puffs. She’s not making any pincer grasps yet but she has discovered how to get puffs in her mouth pretty effectively despite that. It was really helpful on her very first vacation to have the puffs to occupy her at meals.
After we returned from vacation, we started giving her food in earnest. We started with sweet potatoes and carrots and squash (sweet orange vegetable favorites of course). Over the past couple weeks, she has had enjoyed peas, green beans, corn (with sweet potatoes), and apples. She doesn’t seem to have any preferences now, though if she isn’t hungry she will let you know.
In addition, I had my very first night away from her, and she finally, finally took a full bottle from dad. It marks the beginning of the end of breastfeeding, I know, because my supply is dwindling anyway but it is a relief to know we should be able to feed her bottles without difficulty. We didn’t try the sippy again this month, though we plan on practicing more bottles from myself and dad as well as exploring the sippy more this month.
Coraline got her second tooth this month during vacation. So far, her teething isn’t too bad. There is a lot of drool, and close to the tooth breaking through we have a couple to a few wakeful nights. She gets a little edgy, but not unreasonable. I do hope that how she will teethe through all of them because it doesn’t seem too bad. We seem to have caught a break though, since she’s had a little less drool since breaking through the second tooth.
Sleeping is wonderful. She goes to bed around 7 (and lets you know when its time!). She sleeps through the night regularly. Coraline occasionally calls out crying for just second before falling back asleep; she is still very loud, so this wakes me, but she puts herself right back to sleep most times without trouble. When she does wake up for extended periods, she gets changed and then we sit in the rocking chair with her facing outward watching the mobile until she falls back asleep. She holds on to a little burp cloth while she sucks her thumb and wedges herself in corners of the crib.
Unfortunately, she is like her brother in that she it is difficult to tell when she has an ear infection! This month she got her first (a double), and we didn’t know it until she cried all morning one day in pain because her ear drum was bursting. After it was done, despite the ear infection that was still there, she was happy as a clam. Ear drums burst to relieve pressure, and most heal themselves. Hers did without a problem, and she got very good at taking her medicine.
When she went to the doctor for her ears, she weighed in at 15lb 4oz, a full pound from what she was at 6 months. Since the doctors told us last month that she needed to get some more calories in, we believe we’ve been successful and she’s been putting on weight and looking so healthy and her usual chubbier self. Coraline is just starting to get into up to 9 month clothes in length, but we still mostly wear 6 months clothes and size 2 diapers.
It’s been such a great month, I wish I could hold her tight here and stop her from growing for a minute, pausing in 7 months for a bit.
