Growth Spurt

First of all, this is NOT our house in the background. It's the Yeats Mill - a small working corn mill turned museum close by. I took Mom there on her visit. The mill is a working one, as I said and they do grind and sell corn throughout the summer. We went on a tour the other day - very interesting!

Mark is almost 7 months old now and is growing super-fast. This has been a very eventful month for him. First, he grew 2 teeth. Then - he learned to roll all the way onto his tummy. And now, just last week, he learned how to sit on his own!

I thought it was supposed to be gradual: one day he'd try to sit up with support; then - he'd sit up on his own, but leaning forward onto his arms; then - sit up without any support; and finally, in due time, sit up, lean over to reach and grab a toy, then straighten himself up again. Well, well, well... that was a nice theory. Up until last week Mark simply refused to sit, even supported. He would either object loudly or slouch into an almost-horizontal position. More often than not he did both. I started getting a bit worried - a 6-month old baby was supposed to WANT to learn how to sit. And then it happened: last Monday Mark was slouching and crying when sitted. And last Tuesday he all of a sudden decided not only to sit up, but to lean over, grab a toy, and straighten back up WITH the toy!

So here are the pictures - Mark is sitting on his own - no trickery, no Mom and Dad supporting him, no pillows to prop him.

He loves reaching for everything that is out of his range - a toy, a plate, a phone, a napkin. No crawling yet, but he's trying really hard. This reach-and-grab thing replaced all his other games, even the jumper doesn't interest him much right now. Mark's favorite toys this month are Alphabooks by Baby Einstein. Foods - anything, but green vegetables or cottage cheese. I bought him a feeder (like a small pouch made out of mesh fabric and with a handle on one side) and feed him bananas and peaches. Big plastic bibs are out, ever since the whole made-in-China recall debacle. So we're back to small fabric bibs - a HUGE mess every time Mark eats solids. Lots of clean-up, but perfect picture opp!