Fun, Funny, and some more: 7th month. Sleep Trained and Potty trained. The month of many firsts!

Every single day is unbearably precious and unfathomably fun

My baby is 7 months old. The number blows my mind. I remember reading other people’s blogs and thinking how big their babies were at 7 months. And here he is, exactly 7 months old, and yet he is still so little and at the same time so grown. I could never imagine myself as a mom to a 7 months old and yet in a blink of an eye, he is 7 whole months old!

I am, yet again, repeating myself saying that this month has been the most amazing one so far.

There have been so many changes this month that I had to start a list, not to forget a single thing when it was time to write this blog. But the biggest change is that he enjoys life to the extent that I have not seen him do until now. He is so much fun! It sums up his whole being! There hasn’t been a day this month that he didn’t wake up and gift me the most amazing day of them all. Each day, every day. I am not saying this to sound poetic. I am not one of those. I am saying this because it is true.

The second biggest change is that he is potty trained. I know it sounds unachievable at 7 months, but what can I say, he is a fast learner. My mom had been holding him up on the pot every time she thought he wanted to poop, and I thought it was only a coincidence that he pooped as soon as she held him that way. There was no way you could potty train a new baby. But I continued following her lead, because it was less messy and the after cleanup was a breeze. It wasn’t until a few days ago that I realised, my little peach hasn’t had a soiled diaper in 4 months. And last week, he was fussing over something. I couldn’t understand because he had had a good sleep, was well fed, and freshly diapered (I just made up that word). I took him to the washroom, stripped his tiny bum naked and held him up on the pot, when he pooped in seconds. Poor guy was holding it all in because he doesn’t like a dirty diaper either. Atta boy! I owe this one to my mom.

The third BIG BIG change is that he is sleep trained. To many parents it’s a dream. It still feels so unreal when we think of it. But it is true. My cuddly bear sleeps from 7-8pm to 7-8 am (sometimes wakes up once to eat at night). Now that isn’t the BIG achievement I am talking about. The BIG achievement is ---- wait for it ----- he has learned to fall asleep by himself. No more rocking him, patting him or feeding him to sleep. We just put him in his crib, dim the lights and put on some music. Then we come downstairs and watch the magic happen. I wish I could say that it was an easy task to accomplish, but honestly, I wouldn’t know much because it was all Ashish. The first night we started to sleep train him, I wanted to give up and was willing to let him co-sleep with us till he is 5 years old. I couldn’t bare the sight of him crying inconsolably. That’s when Ashish took over. He bared the brunt for over a month, every night. Initially it used to take him around 45 minutes to an hour of consoling the baby before he cried himself to sleep. As tempting as it might have been to get him out of his crib, hold him tight and cuddle him, Ashish didn’t budge. Ergo, he had to face my wrath at multiple occasions as well, but poor guy took it all in good spirit. Result : Ansh takes 5 minutes to fall asleep now without any interference from us. I owe this one to Ashish.

Oh! Another BIG one is that he said “MAMA” for the first time. I am still not able to digest how that happened, but it did and I have witnesses to prove. I still can’t believe my boy said “MAMA”. He must love me too.

He thinks dad is alright too! LOL! No, he really adores Ashish. If he sees him somewhere in the distance, he stops doing whatever he was doing and just stares. Or if Ashish is close enough to see him, he puts his hands out and wants to be picked up. And then it’s a giggle fest.

I love how my day begins with his instant babbles and laughs and screeches. I usually take time to open my eyes, so he continues playing with his toes or his toys till I enter his room, and he gives me the brightest happiest smile of them all! “MORNING MOMMY! IT’S TIME TO PLAY!” it says. So I groggily pick him up, change his diaper. In the meantime, he’s just a ball of ENERGY! He pumps his legs, smile, laughs, ready to start his day. He looks at me with a sly smile, jumping from joy everytime I smile back. There’s just no way to resist that kind of positive energy – it wakes me up!

He started taking solids last month itself and it’s going really well. He has been through the “I’m not interested in eating, I am interested in playing, throwing food, dropping dishes, holding the spoon myself and making a mess of it” stages. He has so much fun doing it that we don’t mind the mess – it’s all a part of learning. Even when I served him a whole bowl of avocado, and he spilled it all over himself and the carpet. Yeah… that has happened. But again, it was my fault. Who places the high chair on a carpet? Silly me!

I’m also having fun getting him to taste new things and then recording his reactions

Here's him tasting lemon:

Here's him having rice crackers:

This little boy is such a doll! He can play by himself and be perfectly content. Though his time span for every activity is only 15 minutes and then needs a new place/ toy/ activity (though I don’t mind entertaining him all day). He is the ultimate curious little person, observing anything and everything around him.

He loves to stand and has the proudest look on his face when he does.

He sits perfectly

He sleeps in his own room

He poses! Oh how he poses! With the right lighting, I can take the most amazing photos of him.

He still plays with his playmat, but now instead of passively lying under it, he fights with it. It’s hilarious to watch him struggle trying to push the arches above his head.

He is the most expressive baby I know (I don’t know that many babies though!). He goes through a million expressions per second. I have so many pictures of him on my phone that I had to start another folder called “Funny Faces” for him to laugh at when he’s a teenager.