Letter to Lizzy- Seven Months

Dear Lizzy,

Tomorrow you will turn exactly seven months old. I have to confess that around month three, I was very concerned that you would be walking at this point. Thankfully, you are not, but considering how quickly you can pull yourself up and "cruise" on furniture, I'm willing to bet that you'll be a pro at it before you're a year old.

The other day, I finally put some shoes on you. You tolerated them, but could NOT figure out how to get around. Normally, you can pull yourself up on the couch with ease. With your little shoes on, I had to help you stand, and you never did how to figure out how to crawl with them on. The moral of the story--when I need to keep you confined for a couple of minutes, all I need to do is put some shoes on you!

So far, you still only have two teeth. However, you are still drooling and chewing on EVERYTHING. You also manage to chew your food pretty well, and are now almost exclusively off  baby food, and eating real food for the most part. This past week, we went out to dinner for your Uncle Kev's birthday, and several people commented on what a good eater you are. They mean that you never stop eating. Seriously. That night while we were at dinner, you ate an 8oz bottle, followed by two cups of black beans, two cups of rice, an a small tupperware container of peaches. Since you hadn't gained weight again at your weight check (but you'd grown a half an inch in height!), your pediatrician tells me that I should let you eat until you don't show any interest in food. But even after eating everything I mentioned above, you were STILL trying to pull things off my plate.

It still continues to amaze me how much you love animals. You chase our cat around the house all day, and luckily she puts up with it. Even when dogs jump up on you, you squeal with delight. You'll sit in front of the dog gate at my parent's house for hours and "talk" to their dog. We actually may be looking at getting a dog here pretty soon, and we already plan to take you with us and see if any of the puppies like you chasing after them all the time.

Since you've learned how to stand up, sleep has been an interesting thing. Even if you are completely exhausted when I lay you down for a nap, within minutes, I can hear you standing up in your crib and playing. We've finally lowered your crib mattress to the lowest level, so I've let you just stand and play, hoping that you'll finally fall asleep. So far, that hasn't happened, and the only way you've been napping lately is if I turn on the TV, lay down on the couch, and let you "watch" it with me. You fall asleep that way in no time! I try not to do that a lot, because I don't want to start a bad habit, but sometimes you just need a nap so bad!

Even though you have a huge temper and throw tantrums when you don't get your way, you are mostly just a lot of fun--easy to laugh, and quick to smile. I love you more than anything baby girl,

Mom