7 Month Letter

Dear J-Baby,

Today you are 7 months old...and the theme for this past month has been "have arms/legs, will roll." Rolling is something you already do quite well,gone are the days of putting you on the bed unsupervised. Yes, you've fallen off=massive Mommy guilt (babies are faster then the speed of light)& so its down to the floor for you. Incedentily, you don't stay on the floor blanket either...prefering to roll around to all corners of the room, seeking the most dangerous,dirty objects to attempt to put in your mouth/tip over/etc.(hence the need for constant supervision)You don't crawl yet, but you're scootching yourself up on your knees and doing a little belly flop with a great sigh of exasperation. (it's coming,perhaps not fast enough for you, though)

This past month, you've acquired two bottom teeth...and a helmet, to correct your plagiocephaly (head asymmetry). Despite having physical therapy for a few months, the head asymmetry is pretty severe (& getting worse) which for some babies, is the case. The helmet has to be worn 23 hours a day (for about 12 weeks).(to shape the growth of the skull) In this hot weather, its not a pleasant experience & causes alot of sweating/deep red facial skin rashes. To the untrained eye, it doesn't cast your parents in a very favoriable light.(I swear we have not been scourging our child with hot irons) I'm going to ask about something we can do to prevent/clear up those patches (although they said it is normal,I'm not sure as to what degree they were talking about).

You are the best little baby ever..and the most social one. (basically, if you aren't around people 24/7 you're very unhappy) You like your rice cereal & applesauce (greenbeansauce was not a hit & gave you diarrhea),& for now, that's the extent of your solid food experience. For the first year, we've decided to go gluten-free (because the guilt parade doesn't quite end after pregnancy,& many T1 parents opt for that to further decrease their kids chances of developing an autoimmune illness.) Well,your parents don't agree that there should be ANY guilt involved,because as we all know T1 diabetes is a strange beast(striking both breastfed,and formula fed,individuals randomly), & ditto that with celiac disease but for now,the most current research says "this may be benificial to your kiddo" so we're going to roll with it. Both your mommy & your daddy were fed lots of strange things as infants...and somehow managed to survive.(such as onions...my dad thought it was fun to watch the faces that we'd make) You crack yourself (and everyone around you)up...you're a very funny baby. (destined to be the next Jay Leno, perhaps?) You can kind of say the word "hello" (hi-yo), which in your mind, is associated with food. (Hello?Hello??Feed me now, Mommy) You also grab at the spoon, the bottle, and the bowl...to assist (dump food all over) in the feeding process. (you aren't quite ready to feed yourself yet)

You're a whopping 16 lbs & a jumble of arms and legs, most of which are in constant kicking/flailing/swimming motion...and you're working at sitting up, unassisted. (your back muscles aren't quite strong enough yet, since you're dealing with the added weight of the helmet)

You're pretty incredible,& you just keep getting more so!

Love,

Your Mommy