The 7th month

Last week was filled with excitement but also a little sadness on my part.  My son has turned 7 months old and whilst I love seeing how far he has come and how he achieves another milestone practically every week, part of me inside wishes the time wasn't going quite so quickly and his growth would slow down.

He was bumped up a group in his sensory classes as he is too advanced for his class with his sitting up, feeding himself and trying to talk to other babies.  He is now the youngest in his group and part of me is cheering inside as he's still a little baby compared to the other babies and I get to hold onto the idea of my tiny baby just that little bit longer.  My son on the other hand spent the whole class silent, observing the babies and I think generally feeling overwhelmed. 

This month means a lot of changes for the both of us.  It is my last month at home with him full time although I have managed to work it out that I can still do classes with him. For him there is the weaning in which he will be trying proteins for the first time this week. The biggest changes for the both of us though will be the unpredictable ones, he is at that stage where he will transform into a toddler overnight and it's both exciting and frightening!  My son might crawl or he might not.  He might say his first words or he might not.  He might get his first tooth, or pull himself up on something and stand for the first time or he might just clap... or he might not. 

I can already see signs of him trying to be mobile and although his sounds don't sound anything like actual words yet, I can imagine as any parents know too well anything can happen overnight especially as he spends more and more time around older babies.  I always gush about how great it is to have a baby and I love my son more than anything but there is also the other side of the coin. 

This past month a stronger and not so nice side of his personality has emerged where he gets very frustrated and then gets angry.  He has also started to become more and more difficult to feed as he is distracted by everything.  I am currently feeding him in his bumbo while we sort out the mess of a dining room table (we need to finish off and clean the study before the table can be sorted) and he is practically trying to climb out of it to get to anything around him if I'm not feeding him quickly enough/he is bored.  This makes meal times extremely frustrating and almost like a battle every meal time, particularly at dinner.  He has started pushing my face away when I kiss him sometimes and pushing his daddy's hand away when it's in his way when they sit in the armchair together.  I don't know if this is something other babies of similar ages do but it certainly seems like a part of his personality manifesting in a bad way and we are hoping to start doing more stuff to deal with it, like yoga to give him more calm time.  

Still, every day is very much a learning curve for us and despite the more difficult days I can't help but feel a little sad I'm losing my little baby to toddlerhood.  Why does he have to grow up so quickly?!