Monday, May 21, 2018

Tatum Beau: Seven Months


This was definitely our biggest month so far with Tatum, it seemed like he had so many milestones all at once.  Crawling, sitting up, pulling himself up, starting baby food, etc. 

Nicknames:

Tater-Tot, T-Beau, TB, Tater

Height/Weight/Health:

We don't go back to the doctor until 9 months but he seems to be growing right on the "average" tract for weight and a little under average for height.

At his six month appointment he got four shots and did great.  He also got the okay to start foods.. more on that below.


No teeth yet but he's definitely teething - there's always drool everywhere and he's really chewing on his fingers more and more as opposed to just sucking on them. 


Clothes:

He's still fitting right into 3-6 month clothing - with the warmer weather on occasion we were glad we still had a few outfits that we'd gotten for Florida - he was able to reuse these for Charleston too. 

Still in size three diapers.


Schedule:

He still isn't on a super strict schedule.  He usually has his first bottle of the day always around 9am and then goes every three hours.  

His naps are when he's ready but he's slowly starting to get into more of one longer one in the morning, one longer in the afternoon with an occasional cat nap or two thrown in there.  Bedtime is pretty much starting to get closer to 7:30-8 with the occasional 8-9.


Feedings:

We started baby food this month! We started at six months + one week and started with rice cereal. The first feeding he cried and didn't get much down.  It took him a while to get the hang of it - the first food was bananas.   He likes to have his own spoon to hold so he doesn't grab at the one I use to feed him.  He didn't love it so we took a break when we went on vacation and then started back into it this past week because the doctor said to always make sure it's "fun." We've also started some water too - in a bottle to start. 

We still do 8 ounce bottles every three-ish hours with a couple "snacks" in between.


For fun food we've given him a dab of grits, whipped cream and vanilla ice cream as well as a tiny bit of mac n cheese - he loves sucking on bagels too (must be toasted or he can get too many pieces off).


Sleep:

Started the month sleeping well but waking up an hour or two after going to bed for either a paci or a bottle. This was a big problem for a couple weeks until we started loading him with food at night between about 5pm and bedtime we now make sure to give him 3 bottles even if he doesn't finish each so a dinner bottle, an extra little one and his bedtime bottle - it's helped so much! 

He's getting better with doing the longer naps - some days it's two long naps and some days maybe it's 3-4 smaller ones.  We're still getting that schedule down. 


Activities:
He's still enjoying his music classes - he loves playing with the little instruments at the end of class. 

His favorite form of entertainment is cruising around in his walker - inside or out - he will wonder all throughout our first floor and stay occupied for what seems like forever! 


Crawling! All over the place.


Likes:

Looking in the mirror, untying people's shoes, being held/cuddled, smiling, trying to get mommy's phone and hitting the buttons, sucking on bagels, using his hands - he's really being able to play with more and more toys and hold on to things much better.


Dislikes:

He is very squirmy on the changing table! If we give him something to hold onto in his hands he's usually a little bit better.

He's been a little fussy an hour or so after going to bed and wanting a pacifier or just a little rocking - we're trying our hardest to get past that!

Being overtired is another problem we've been dealing with this month.

He hates if you take away a toy or food item that he's really into in the moment and cries until he gets it back.

Milestones:
He's really on the move - his crawling really took off the week he hit six months.  He'll crawl in little circles and loves having a target - Derek, Stella, me, a pacifier, one of Stella's toys, etc.  Each day within the week he started it seemed like he got faster and faster.

He can sit up by propping his hands in front of him - enough to sit and watch Stella or play with a little toy for a bit.  At 6 and a half months he started sitting up on his own, a little wobbly at first but he progressed and did better and better as the month went on. 


We stopped using his infant car seat as a stroller seat and put the actual stroller seat on.  We also upgraded him to a new car seat as his infant one was starting to get a little bit tight. 


A week before seven months he started pulling himself up in his crib so we lowered it again - he also can sit up on his knees now to play more.  He also pushes himself up into yoga like positions as we call it.  He'll use anyone as a jungle jim and climb right over you. 


Adventures:

He's had many play dates, a few birthday parties, tons of walks outside. 

We took another plane ride (his 5/6th rides) - our little Tatum Beau got to pretend to be a southern gentleman in Charleston.  He did wonderful on the plane as well as the whole trip.  He loved playing in the sand in Kiawah and was really on the move on the beach. 

He has started to noticed our presence, if we leave a room, if it's one of us holding him, etc.  

We added a second stroller to the collection and he loves propping his feet up on the bar as he strolls around. 

Other:
Definitely noticing this month and last that he's hitting the stage where he wants more attention and activities to do and is less content on his own.

Got my first real taste of needing to baby proof with Tatum grabbing at all the items on my office bookshelf from his walker... This continues to pick up! 

He loves to watch Stella play and smiles at her often!

He'll grab a pacifier and know it goes in his mouth, many times instead of us giving it to him he grabs it out of our hands and does it himself.

He's very ticklish in his thighs - he'll belly laugh so hard if you tickle him there.

Tatum holds his arms up to  be picked up if he's in a walker or play set - it's so cute like he knows when you walk over "ok, please pick me up now Mommy."

11 comments:

  1. What a great milestone month for Tatum!! He's so cute and he's definitely a strong boy already pulling himself up! xo,Biana-BlovedBoston

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  2. Awww he's such a natural in front of the camera!! What wonderful milestones!
    Melanie | Toots + Dill

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  3. I bet his belly laugh is just precious!

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  4. omg that little crawler! so cute. and i think he's flown more than me in his life so far lol. which is awesome he's doing so well there too! traveling with one is just the easiest i hear (compared to multiples) so soak that in!

    xoxo cheshire kat

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  5. Look at that big boy!! I remember when we started solids... it was a huge mess and she was NOT interested!

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  6. Happy seven months Tatum! He always looks so happy and he is seriously on the move, that is amazing! We are still struggling with sleep so share any tips that help ;)

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  7. What a little cutie and so happy!!

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  8. Tatum is growing to fast! I can't believe how many milestones he hit this month! You know I'm loving the T-Beau ("Tebow") nickname! :)

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  9. He’s such a happy boy! And isn’t food so much fun? That’s too cute that he wants to have his own spoon when you’re feeding him!

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  10. Yay for baby food, and how adorable is the nickname Tater Tot! Happy 7 months to your lil' cutie <3
    Green Fashionista

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  11. 7 months already? And he keeps getting cuter by the month! I love the nickname Tater-Tot! Emily @ Martinis & Bikinis

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