H's escapades...

Today began rather cloudy, although it was my mood, not the weather, that was overcast. I was feeling out-of-sorts and not dealing very well with H's idea of napping (a good hour shorter than usual). I truly can't complain because my little darling charge is still his happy self, just more wakeful than I'd prefer.

So, after his second shortened nap and a walk involving me calling, and vented to, my very patient mother, I gathered the darling up into my arms and sat with him on the deck. H and I both are going to miss this deck when his family moves. I have heard there is a deck at their new place, but this one looks down on a semi-busy street so there are always people and cars to look at and talk about. Sometimes we can sit and listen to the cheers from the Cubs stadium, but mostly we watch cars go by. There is often a lovely breeze, although today it was just nicely shaded and pleasant. H's avid curiously, usually expressed in through active bouts of exploration, is here centered on the sounds he hears and, today, he is much more calm.

With him on my lap, sometimes twisting to stand and others just content curled up in my arms, I marvel as the wonders of his seven month old frame. He was sitting in my lap, I was anchoring his knees to prevent him from toppling, and he just flopped back to curl up in my arms, but before getting to comfortable (he probably heard something he wanted to check out) he swings back up, just using his stomach muscles (legs still anchored by me), to a sitting position. This action amazes me because I am not sure I could do that with as little effort as he put into it.

I also discovered recently that his arm pits are ticklish. His feet have been ticklish for a while, causing riots of laughter at times when you blow raspberries on them. I am not sure if we just didn't think to tickle him or not, but when I figured it out, it was the cutest thing ever. With this in mind, today when we were on the porch, when he was reaching behind me to grab the back of the chair, I would reach up and tickle his arm nearest me. He would smile and bring his arm down and grin at me. He would keep reaching, and I would again tickle. His desire to grab the chair back was more persistent than his desire to resist being tickled. It was adorable.

He is also pulling himself to a standing position - everywhere that he possibly can. At seven months I find this to be amazing. He can reach from the coffee-table to the couch without too much difficulty, work his around tables and chairs and is in the process of figuring out how to get back to sitting without falling.

Another of his accomplishments that amazing me is his ability to spread his toys across the entire house. He is asleep again. A third nap is typically unusual, but his shorter naps and extended playtime wore him out. I am going to use the rest of this time to get the house in order again. I sometimes nap with him, but thanks to an early bedtime last night I am physically tired, but not sleepy. Oh well.