Happy 7 month birthday!!!

Today Oliver is 7 months old. He's such a big boy now, and very busy all the time! He loves to play and he's a master roller. He can even army crawl and when he's laying on his back he will push himself along backwards. It's not the best way to get around, but he's getting there. He laughs at everything now, too. We play peek-a-boo and sing lots of songs. His favorite is the itsy bitsy spider. He still loves bathtime and now he has a rubber duckie to play with in there. He's in the stage 2 foods, which he seems to like so far. He's a very good eater! Let's see what the book (What to Expect the First Year) says he should be doing by now...the ones in black are things he isn't doing yet, the ones in blue are the ones he does.

By seven months he

...should be able to...
-feed himself a cracker (since he's not eating table food yet we have not tried this, although he does hold his bottle and tries to take the spoon when we are feeding him)
-razz (like raspberries)
-coo or babble when happy (although most of the time he screams with delight!)
-smile often when interacting with you

...will probably be able to...
-sit without support
-bear some weight on his legs when held upright
-work to get a toy that's out of reach
-look for a dropped object
-rake with fingers a small object and pick it up in his fist (we haven't tried this because of the "small object" part)
-turn in the direction of a voice
-babble, combining vowels and consonants such as da-da-da, ba-ba-ba, ma-ma-ma, etc.
-play peek-a-boo

...may possibly be able to...
-creep or crawl
-pass an object from one hand to the other
-stand holding on to someone or something

...may even be able to...
-pull up to standing from sitting
-get into a sitting position from stomach
-play patty cake or wave bye-bye
-pick up a tiny object with thumb and finger
-walk holding onto furniture
-say mama or dada indiscriminately

well according to the book he's doing pretty well. He doesn't seem interested in talking AT ALL. He likes when he makes a sound and I mimic him, but he doesn't try to mimic me when I say something to him. I've spent a lot of time going "ma ma ma ma ma" "da da da da da" "ba ba ba ba ba" but all it does is make him laugh. Well at least he's entertained!

I've mentioned before that he is all about manipulating things with his hands. He's very good at turning things and getting them where he wants them to go. Even the round blocks we just got him and an egg shaped toy he already had, and the big soft blocks. He can hold all of them and wave them around and get them to his mouth.

He also loves to stand. Almost anytime he's in my lap he's standing. His legs are so strong! He's getting good at sitting up, too. He sat and played for about half an hour yesterday. Of course, I was with him, but he was sitting all by himself and I was just rotating the toys (when he drops one I hand him another one).

So overall my little man is doing very well. I'm excited to see what month 7 will be like.