Log Rolls

Jill is an absolute dream at 7 months. This is such a fun time for us, I would like to stop time for just a little while. Jill is interested in everything. She still enjoys playing in her exersaucer and with her favorite new toy, the fuzzy duck sent by her Grammy. She also really loves tags. She can be surrounded by a dozen rainbow colored toys and she'll zero in on the tags on her boppy and concentrate very hard at touching them and chewing on them. My only complaint with her behavior right now is that it is impossible to read her a book. With every page she attempts to drag the book into her mouth.

Given that, I believe that teeth are in Jill's near future. She's chewing on whatever she can get a hold of and I can feel bumps beneath her gums. Jill is continuing with her solid food taste-a-thon when we spend several days on a new food checking for allergies. So far she is eating rice cereal, peas, green beans, sweet potatoes, prunes, and squash. She HATES the prunes. When I give her a spoonful she makes her "rectangle face" and lets them ooze right back out of her mouth. But the poor baby really needs them. By Thursday we'll be onto carrots.

For the last two weeks, Jill has had a great thing going with her naps. She'll go to sleep at between 7:00 and 8:00PM and sleep until 7:00AM. After two hours of serious play she is ready for her 9:00AM nap. At the first sign of any eye rubbing, I scoop her up, change her diaper, put her in her sleep sack, and down she goes. The key is to get her in the sleep sack BEFORE putting her in the crib so that her thumb is available as soon as she hits the mattress. Sometimes she'll cry and roll around in protest, reaching her little arms up in the air. It's so sad. If I put a hand on her tummy to keep her from rolling too much and avoid eye contact with her for about a minute, she'll usually find her thumb and go to sleep. She's been sleeping for about an hour and half in the morning and again for an hour and a half at around 1:00 in the afternoon. After 6 months of 20 minute cat naps, I feel like I am in heaven and Jill is much happier too with all the good rest. But, believe me, I am not smug about any of this. I know the routine will probably change shortly. When it does, we'll go with it, but this has been a great couple of weeks. To all you moms of four monthers, hold on! The seven month nap routine is coming!

One final bit of news, today Jill mastered the log roll. She started on her back, rolled over her right shoulder onto her tummy, and then rolled right back onto her back. Then she realized that this was a valid form of transportation and continued rolling clear across the living room. It was so cute. I couldn't put her down without her starting another log roll journey and whenever she came face up she gave me a big smile. I'll video tape it tomorrow for posting.