7 1/2 Month 'Partial' Update

Much time has past since I last wrote an update on the boys and there have been a tremendous amount of development. I have been intending to give a 7 month update for weeks now, but the past few week have been so full as you’ll read about below. I didn’t want to wait until their 8 month update, so here is a little glimpse into what Gavin and Wyatt have been up to the past month and a half. It’s only a glimpse, because I don’t think I could possible capture EVERYTHING they are doing. They just continue to amaze us with their fast growth developmentally, mentally and emotionally. We are so thankful for our precious blessings. Each stage of your children’s lives is truly wonderful; but watching them embrace and explore the world these days leaves us laughing and smiling continually. They bring us so much joy and have allowed us to grow so much as parents, individuals and as a couple!

The best place to start is MOVEMENT!

• Wyatt started to really crawl all over the place late September. They were both pulling up on their toybox on their own at this point, along with going from the sitting to crawling and back to the sitting position. Gavin started to crawl all over the place with his brother on October 20th. It is so much fun watching the difference in their personalities. As I mentioned in my previous post a while back, Wyatt practiced crawling by just going for it. He face planted a lot and tried lots of different things and then finally he found the way he liked and became super fast and loving to go everywhere! During this time and for the next few weeks, Gavin spent lots of time on all fours concentrating and thinking. Then just one day he started crawling all over the place with his brother! (That’s why I have an exact date for Gavin and not for Wyatt…)


• Wyatt in the mean time learned how to pull up on everything from every position. He stands up on EVERYTHING ALL the time and walks from one thing to another, as does Gavin. Each wake period is FULL of exploring their world and their abilities.


• Wyatt also started to CLIMB on October 20th. Oh how scary! He doesn’t quite understand that once he’s climbed up somewhere, he will fall if not careful. But just the past few days, he’s really starting to understand I have to step down or crawl down a certain way in order not to roll! It’s great to watch his thinking process.


• Speaking of getting down, both boys are excellent at sitting themselves down after they pull themselves up. We are so thankful! I think one reason is because they’ve been standing at the toy box and other things for months now and learned then that they can sit down on their own from the standing position.


• Gavin’s favorite thing to do this past week is to take our fingers and walk ALL around the house all throughout the day. He is SO proud of himself when he does this and does excellent. Each day I’m giving less and less balance for him as he learns to do it on his own. Wyatt still thinks he can walk by himself as he just lets go of an object and moves forward. It always ends in falling though. He’s tough though and gets right back up after he falls or bumps his head. Wyatt’s already had some knots on his head, bruises, cuts, etc. Ugh, my heart is always going crazy as I watch my precious boys be such dare devils. They have NO fear… Oh boy, what is a mama to do?!?!?????


• We've childproofed the house in all the many ways the boys need at this stage (no door handles yet). For a week, they were so kind in showing us everything that we had not yet thought to childproof!
  
  

Development

• They boys are really learning how to coordinate their movements during play and interacting with us. Both boys love to give high fives, Wyatt tries to wave sometimes and just today Wyatt began clapping! He is SO proud of himself for clapping and even says ‘Yay’ sometimes when doing it just like I do!


• Gavin LOVES to open doors/cabinets, turn pages, spin things and press buttons. Just yesterday Gavin started to really play with cars the way they are meant to be played with; going around in circles, back and forth, and pressing buttons for the noises.


• Just the day before both boys discovered the wonderful world of rolling and chasing the ball everywhere! They have so much fun, especially since there is a brother there to join in on the fun!


• Gavin loves to give and receive hugs. He’ll be playing and then all of a sudden take a break for hug time and then get back to playing. It warms my heart; I just love this!


• Wyatt just started to give kisses (with mouth open of course) this past week! It’s so precious and again, warms my heart!


• They light up when they see Mama and Dada, and just recently Wyatt isn’t exactly thrilled when I leave the room for a second.


• While they've been making sounds and babbling for a while, it was today for the first time that Gavin just really started to take off. He was talking and talking and talking and using all sorts of sounds together in many differant patterns and tones. Wyatt was watching intently as he did this. It's only a matter of time until they are chatting with each other!!
  
  

Food

• The boys are excellent eaters and love food. They eat such a wide variety of foods these days and are enjoying many dinners that Dad and Mom eat too. I’m very careful to introduce a lot of foods that are acidic or will cause excessive gas right now though. I’ll start introducing these more within the next month or so.


• For a while we struggled with Wyatt having hysterical fits during meal time for no reason what so ever. We knew it wasn’t the food or sickness and couldn’t imagine it was the ‘teething’ excuse. After weeks of these random hysterical fits, we finally figured it out: Wyatt wanted to feed himself! Once we started giving him finger foods (which we thought he was way too early for during his 6 month) he was as happy as can be. They are doing great with finger foods, but I must say I am very paranoid of them choking. I am constantly fearful of this and it’s something I’m trying to overcome.


• They really are doing great at chewing though which makes me very happy. All snacks and fingerfoods are very soft or small still at this point. But veggies, fruits, meats, cheese, rice crispies, puffs, yogurt melts, etc make great finger foods. While they do feed themselves, there is no way they could get the amount of food they need in a timely manner all by themselves, so while they are eating finger foods, I’m giving them the main parts of their meals with the spoon.


• The boys are not drinking a lot of milk these days; especially Gavin. This is something that I’ve been wracking my brain over the past several weeks. The pediatrician is not concerned at all with the amount they are drinking and their overall nutrition. They are getting everything they need and more so I need to relax about it a little. We’ve had to change things up a little though to ease my mind during the day… I give them milk when they first wake up in the morning so ensure they get plenty at the start of the day. We then eat breakfast an hour or 1.5 hours later. Then the rest of the day, I just get them to drink as much as they will but not worry if they mainly eat solids.
  
  

First Cold

• The boys had their first cold last week. I’ll write a separate post on this later. Wyatt caught it first and two days later Gavin did. They were both teething at the same time; Gavin one tooth and Wyatt three. Watching my sons feel bad and have high fevers broke my heart. As a mom, I want to take away all their pain, and I hate it when I can’t. They are much better this week though; just still a little congested and a small cough.
  
  

There is so much more to write about, but I will try to do this at their 8 month update and other follow up posts, along with pictures…