Great strides

We're finally back from California and my mom (who flew home with me and the kids) is on her way to Illinois to hang out with my sister for a few days. I left California before remembering to put the photos we took on my flash drive, so I don't have anything to post just yet. I do have lots and lots of news about Peter though!

Peter started officially crawling in California! He did it a day or two after Corey left to come back to Tennessee, unfortunately. So, I can confidently put in his baby book that he started crawling at about 7 1/2 months -- just about the same point his sister learned to crawl. He's also starting to pull/push up into a standing position, but he's not quite there yet.

Peter also sprouted THREE new teeth while at my parents' house! His second bottom one was virtually through by the time we got there, but we couldn't really see it well for a few more days. He also busted out both of his top front teeth. I could tell they were through when he started GRINDING them against his bottom ones. It's creepy to hear. Not at all pleasant, in fact. He better stop it soon or else I'm going to lose it.

We are also very proud of his new self-feeding skills. Unsurprisingly, he loves the Little Crunchies (kind of like healthier baby Cheetos), puffs, freeze-dried apple pieces, and yogurt melts. We also gave him little bits of banana. His pincer grip is still a little off, but he manages to use some odd techniques to work the food into his mouth. I'm feeding him yogurt in addition to the fruit and vegetable purees, and he has even now tried one of the meat and veggie mixes.

Peter also chose our time in California to debut a sleep regression routine. For over a week, I was up with him many many times each night as I tried to keep him from waking up his sister, cousin, great grandpa, etc. Finally, when it was just my parents, me, and the kids in the house, I let him cry himself to sleep to put himself down for the night. I also didn't go in when he woke in the middle of the night. It was not pleasant, but now he's back to sleeping through the night like a log. He screams for about 10 minutes and then finally gives up. Not a surprise -- his sister did exactly the same thing. Now I just have to remember how to get used to listening to my favorite little boy crying his eyes out. Well, you never get used to it, but you can at least learn to block it out. Now I just need to get him consolidated down to two naps a day. He still likes to catnap up to four times each day, which is kind of a pain to deal with. Again, this is very similar to what his sister did, but it's still annoying.

My toothy, crawling, self-feeding, cry-it-out boy is growing up so big! He'll be eight months old next week. I can't wait to see what next month brings! Juggling? Composing symphonies? I just hope I can keep up...