The Seventh Month Stretch

I sat and watched Elle play by herself for a while on the floor and scoot all around yesterday, and I can’t believe how big she’s gotten. Elle had a playdate the other day with Coral, who is 4 months old, and Sam, who is just 7 weeks old, and I kept looking at them, especially Sam, and thinking that it seems so long ago that Elle was that little. They say babies grow up fast, but I never thought that at 7 months, I’d feel as though her newborn stage was such a long time ago. I mean, don’t get my wrong, it feels like time flies, but at the same time, Elle seems so big to me now that it’s hard to imagine her as that tiny, 5 lb. 11 oz newborn. So, as mentioned before, Elle is somewhat mobile now. Generally, when she sits and plays on the floor, she ends up throwing or pushing all of her toys away from her. So then, she falls onto her belly trying to reach them and starts to scoot across the floor. She’s not fast, by any means, and she often gets frustrated and flails her arms and legs out like Superman. But, she’s mobile, nonetheless, and as a parent, that’s scary (because it means that it’s only a matter of time before she gets into something she’s not supposed to!).
Elle continues to be a very happy and excitable child. Whenever I pull out a toy she likes, she starts screeching, and she always squeals with anticipation when I get out her flashcards. She still gets very excited when Daddy comes home and even “talks” to him on the phone. People always comment that she is “such a happy baby” or “such a smiley baby” or ask “Is she always this happy?” I don’t really know where she gets it from. Kyle and I are happy people, but we certainly aren’t loud. When Elle is happy or gets excited, she makes a lot of noise and lets everyone know how she’s feeling. She now has what we affectionately call “psycho baby time.” In the evenings, she is sometimes very worked up and excited, and she begins to make this crazy noise and move her head really quickly from side to side and then act like she’s going to bite my face or Kyle’s face. I guess it’s because we play around with her sometimes and kiss her face or act like we’re going to bite her face, but it’s very comical to watch.
She’s even gotten a lot better about riding in the car. We traveled to Georgia for Easter, and she was much, much happier this time. She rarely cried and watched a lot of Baby Einstein videos. Elle is still such a tease, though, when it comes to other people holding her. She will smile and laugh and even reach out for someone else’s hands (to play with them or put them in her mouth), but generally, as soon as she realizes it’s not Mommy or Daddy holding her, she will start to cry.
So, Elle, of course, had her first Easter this month, and she received a number of wonderful Easter gifts from family and friends, although she has no idea what Easter is. One gift, a pink bunny, from our neighbor, Brooke, has become one of her favorite toys, and she loves to chew on it and hold it (maybe it will be her transition object!). While we were in Georgia, Elle got to see her cousin, Bella (according to Bella, who is 3, Elle is her best friend). However, after the visit, I’m not sure if Bella is still counting her as a friend. Elle likes to grab faces and is not very gentle about it, so I think the idea of Elle was a lot more fun than the real thing. We all went on a shopping trip to Walmart, and by the end, Elle was tired, so she began screaming as soon as I put her in her carseat. Bella was seated next to her, and her first instinct was to cover Elle’s mouth to make her stop (which Charity quickly told her not to do). So, Bella rode the rest of the way home with her hands covering her ears (I’m sure she’s now telling her mother not to have another baby!). Bella’s brother, Corbin, was so gentle with Elle and even got to hold her a few times. I think she’s already following in his footsteps too. Elle loves to make a noise we call her pterodactyl noise (we don’t know how else to describe—although sometimes, it also sounds like birds mating), since Corbin used to love dinosaurs and could replicate all their noises.
We took Elle to her first fireworks show this month. Every year before the Kentucky Derby, Louisville hosts an event called Thunder Over Louisville, which includes the largest fireworks display in North America. Elle was a trooper and never really cried the entire day, even though we were gone from around 2:30 PM until 1:00 AM. She did, however, sleep through the whole fireworks show! Oh well, maybe next year.
Elle is becoming much more interactive with other children. She is somewhat of a bully to Peyton (my neighbor’s little boy) and loves to pull on him and grab his face. She doesn’t seem too fond of sharing and always tries to take his toys away from him. The other night, I took her to a vendor fair in a neighborhood near my house (basically, it’s a bunch of moms showing off items they sell). Elle immediately spotted a little boy a few months older than her and started screeching at him to get his attention. He started laughing and “talking” back to her. She just loved it and kept starting at him and trying to “talk” back. It was so cute; she’s a flirt already! And she loves our neighbor’s daughter, Annie. I often take Elle outside to blow bubbles (which she really enjoys) or sit in the grass, and whenever she looks over and sees Annie playing outside, she will start screeching and smiling at her.
Elle is getting so much more coordinated, and it makes it much more difficult to do things while holding her. She is always a lot quicker than I expect, and she can grab things without me noticing. She is fascinated with tags. She always finds the tag on any toy she’s playing with and loves to play with it and put it in her mouth. She also loves to play peek-a-boo now, and starts to laugh hysterically when I pop my head out. I’m worried about her walking a little early, since she loves to hold my hands and stand up and walk around. She’s still not an expert at hold herself up or cruising along the furniture, but I know it’s only a matter of time. I’m hoping she can hold out until her first birthday because I’m sure I won’t be ready for her to walk even then. It’s so fun to watch her discover things and learn to do even the simplest of things. But I guess that’s one of the best parts about being a parent: you get to see the world through your child’s eyes and remember the importance of all the little things in life!