family portraits

Our wedding photographer kindly came over and took these pics of us way back in february when Atticus was 4 months old. 

7 months

weight: 7.814kg length: 70.5 cm

Atticus wasn't in the best mood for this month's portrait session and really wasn't falling for any of my silly songs or sounds in an attempt to cheer him up. it was more of a "just get on with it mum, i have stuff to do" type of mood. he continues to be busy busy and is always exploring, playing, observing and constantly requiring more and more stimulation. i often feel that he gets frustrated when his little fingers won't do the things he wants them to or gets angry with certain toys when he cant get them to do what he wants.


physical development this month has seen Atti get off the floor and onto his knees. he gets on all fours and jiggles his bum around to gain momentum. in the last couple of days he's actually started moving each little leg forward individually then crashing back down on his belly, but it does move him forward! he's really starting to get around quite well, especially on floorboards.
he sits unsupported now and has almost managed sitting up from being on his belly a couple of times! off course with all this experimentation on the path to mobility come falls, bumps, topples and scrapes. the skin on his knees is starting to harden and you can see little red splotches of carpet burn.

Atticus also loves to stand and "walk". i'm totally blown away by the fact that he actually steps his feet forward quite effectively when held by the hands and takes great joy in "walking". he beams with pride and looks around with a big grin on his face to make sure everyone can see what he's doing! most of the time when i give him my fingers to grab, he tries to stand up straight from lying down instead of sitting up first. he grabs my fingers straight away when offered and is always ready to stand and walk. he's also started to lift up his arms when he wants to be picked up which is super cute!
oh, and his top two teeth are getting ready to burst onto the scene! any day now.... 

Atti's social skills have become a little more sophisticated this month. he spends a lot of time staring at and analysing strangers and won't smile at just anyone. he will occasionally, however, just start absolutely cracking up at some stranger in the distance...really laughing out loud, but when they come closer to say hi, he goes all serious and greases them off! 
he recognises family and friends and responds to his own name. he knows my little songs and games and spends our long afternoon walks blabbing to himself for entertainment.

challenges this month saw us tackling sleep problems with a couple of days of controlled crying. we got to a stage where Atticus would wake up 5-6 times a night, screaming, and the only way i could get him back to sleep was to feed him to sleep in our bed. a week or so of this had me calling the emergency helpline and trawling through sleep books. the first bout of control crying was heartbreaking but it only lasted 2 minutes or so and i was actually surprised at how quickly he started to settle himself after he realised i wasn't coming in to feed him. after just 2 days, he started waking up only once or twice and would settle back to sleep much quicker by himself.  


Atticus' interests continue to be people, smiles, watching the dogs and really exploring his world. he's become an absolute expert at pulling my hair out and i sometimes think his favourite thing is to lie next to me and pull my hair as hard as he can. he's also become fascinated with people's mouths. i'm not sure if it's the teeth or just a mouth moving but if he's in your lap, he can't take his eyes off your mouth and loves to stick his little fingers in there.
we've taken a couple of steps backwards with solids as Atti has started refusing all food in mush form. the only thing he has been eating for the last couple of days is watermelon and grapes! he loves to bite, squish, suck and play with the little pieces inside his mouth. i think the cold fruit probably feels quite soothing to his sore teething gums. watermelon is a definite favourite at the moment.