Lukas turns seven months old!

This seventh month has been a big one for Lukas. He has learned and done so many new things, and thinks he's quite the big boy any more. ;) Here's some of what he's been up to:

This is the first of Lukas' birthday pictures taken sitting up all by himself - big boy!
Joe was standing above the camera and coaxed out this irresistible grin. :D
You can see his baltic amber teething necklace here; it seems to help with his teething pain.
No teeth through yet, though!

 

~ Rolling over. The evening of his six-month birthday, Lukas celebrated by rolling over (tummy to back) for the first time. He sure was proud of himself! Within the next week, he quickly perfected the art and figured out how to roll over within a matter of seconds of being laid down on his tummy. Goodbye, tummy time! :D Since then he has managed to roll from back to tummy one time as well. He could do that more often but since he prefers laying on his back he doesn't have much motivation for going onto his tummy. Oh, and he's also discovered how much fun his feet are - to hang on to, as well as to chew on. Pretty hilarious. ;)

~ Beginning to maneuver around the house. It's slow going yet, but the other day he managed to make it several feet into the kitchen, rotating around several times in the process. Another day he got one of the kitchen cupboards open for the first time while laying on his back in front of it. Soon it will be time to start locking things up, methinks!

~ Sitting up. I'm not sure what technically counts as being able to sit up, but Lukas sure has been doing pretty good in that department this month. He doesn't pull himself into a sitting position yet, but if I set him down he is able to hold himself pretty steady and (usually) to pull himself back upright if he tips over. I usually let him practice on the bed while I'm there pumping - he's a safe distance from the edge and surrounded by a few pillows to give him a little leverage in pulling back up. He thinks it's pretty much the greatest thing to play with his toys that way - and to grab at everything in sight, especially Mommy's laptop, lol! For a guy that's normally very easy-going and unmotivated, he's shown a real stubborn streak sometimes if he decides he really wants to check something out, lol.

~ Eating food. We gave Lukas his first taste of solid food about a week after his 6-month birthday. Banana was the item of choice, and his reaction - a decidedly "yucky" face - was hilarious! He's gotten a chance to try several other foods since then, including sweet potato, apple, cucumber, and cantaloup. He even got to try a pickle (not Mommy's idea!), and shocked us all by how excited he was over it. Definitely takes after his daddy! The more he gets used to new flavors, the more he seems to enjoy food, and it's fun to see him sucking and chomping away at his mesh feeder. It's all just for fun now, as I hope to continue nursing him at least through his first birthday, but we're enjoying it. :)

I had him lay down for a few shots, too. This was taken mid-squeal, thus the concentrated expression.
He sure can get loud sometimes, usually when he's all excited and happy, or hyper. :)

~ Noticing pretty much everything. It's fun to watch Lukas tuning in to more and more of his surroundings. He'll notice tiny little specks on a shirt or on his booster seat tray, and each one has to be thoroughly investigated. Patterns in fabric, jewelry, buttons...everything is fascinating. Airplanes flying over our house are a new source of interest. We can't see them very well, even when out on our deck, but they can be quite loud. Sometimes they scare Lukas, but lately he's found the noise more exciting than anything and we're trying to teach him the ASL sign for "airplane" (as well as a few others).

Our adventures this month included a long weekend in Wisconsin, visiting quite a few relatives and friends of Joe's. Lukas got spoiled from the constant attention, but did pretty good on the whole trip. A few days later, we took him to a local amusement park for a day - and again, he behaved wonderfully, just hanging out in the stroller watching everything that went on. He's such a good baby almost all the time...he makes us look good as parents, lol. Guess God knew we couldn't handle anything more. ;) We're unspeakably grateful for the gift of this delightfully sweet-natured little boy!