He can roll.. he can sit… and now he can crawl! That’s right. This past month, James has been able to push up to sit independently and he started crawling! This little guy is on the move and he’s growing TOO fast, my mama heart is NOT ok.

7 Month Milestones & Abilities

Lets take a look at the expected milestones for 7-9 months below. James has just turned 7 months, but I was surprised to see that he has already checked off a few of these:

As I mentioned, James is on the move – he’s currently army crawling but spends a fair amount of time up on his knees too. I’m sure it’ll only be a matter of time till he figures the full crawl out. He is able to push up to sit independently – he usually rolls over to his tummy and pushes up.

I also noticed at dinner last night he is starting to develop a pincer grasp – he hasn’t perfected it yet which is totally normal, but he was able to pick up some smaller pieces of food where previously he could not figure that out. It’s crazy how fast they change + grow!

James has been teething a lot and putting everything in his mouth to explore. He is definitely in that investigative phase for everything. He also loves watching us from different positions. I have yet to see him turn the pages of a board book though LOL.

He knows his name + his nickname from Maggie (Jimbo). He also seems to be starting to recognize words we use a lot like “dog”. If I make a raspberry noise with my lips, he will often imitate it! And he’s a champ when it comes to eating – definitely actually consumes a lot more than my daughter did at this age. Food before one is just for fun but James actually likes food and he gets jealous if we eat anything without him. So far his favourites are pasta of any type and eggs! I will be sharing more about our solids journey below.

In terms of abilities, you can see the complete list of 7-9 month abilities here. James loves to play – he is especially interested in playing with others like us, his sister or other babies. Of course, play is so different at this age than what for example, Maggie at 2.5 years old interprets as play. James likes peek-a-boo and pretty much any type of toy that Maggie is playing with. I’ve previously shared our favourite toys by month (I didn’t update at 6 because it was the same at 5 months) but I think I might do a introduction to our toy rotation for James this month – which will be detailed in a separate post.

James also loves to be swung or tossed up in the air. He hasn’t played with many musical toys but this ability reminds me I should add one into his rotation!

James loves to be held up to stand and as of the day he turned 7 months, he can also push up to stand (SLOW DOWN KID!!). He is literally constantly moving now – rolling, pushing up to sit or stand, and crawling all over. He also moves constantly during diaper and clothing changes – which is very difficult but part of their growth haha!

As an update on our car screaming saga – this has recently improved significantly. His last two long car rides were much more positive for us! He barely cried if at all. His fussiness now is minimal – mostly related to teething, the occasional growth spurt or having to poop.

The cutest thing he has started doing in the past few days is making this little squinty face when he smiles! At first we were like why is he doing that, but it is very clearly a “personality” thing and I love it.

No Wonder Weeks update as we haven’t reached Leap 6 yet… see my update on Leap 5 in our previous monthly post.

6 Month Doctors Appointment

I usually do this update in the month it occurs, but James was a week later due to booking at our doctors office.

The 6 month appointment – as a family health nurse – is one of my favourites because 1) less needles; and 2) it’s the last well baby check for awhile. James did well with his shot – he only needed one vaccination this time because of the type of rotavirus (oral) vaccination he received (Maggie had 3 because it was a different brand that required 3 doses). We nursed just after and he calmed right now. We haven’t had many issues with any of his shots thus far – side effects have been minimal, basically just irritability and tiredness the day of. I usually end up giving 1 dose of Tylenol sometime that day after the vaccine, and he is good as new the following day (yes – I am aware of the shortage, which I hope to write about soon). He almost always sleeps well after his shots too!

In terms of weight and height, he is following his own curve. He weighed 15 lbs 6 oz and was previously at 4 months 13 lbs 8 oz so he gained almost 2 lbs (which was the same for him last time). My babes tend to be big in the womb and then level out to mom and dads size as they grow haha! My doctor had no concerns for his growth and said he looked like a healthy boy.

I will be also working on for this month my 6 month visit post! Stay tuned.

Sleep

Sleep has finally become a bit more consistent here, but still with hiccups for teething/growth/etc. James is more regularly sleeping longer stretches of about 4-6 hours which is much appreciated by mama! At this time he is still in our room because when we move him he will go into Maggie’s room – so I want to be sure he is only waking up maximum twice a night before I move him (once would be even better). We completely moved Maggie by 9 months, so I expect that timeline or a bit longer for him.

I’ll definitely be talking about our transition into one room – I also asked about this on my recent podcast episode with Cayla, Sleep Coach which you can find on all major podcast platforms under “elephant in the womb”.

Starting Solids

Just shy of 6 months, we started James on some mostly puréed solids. We used our Quark Quook to make these, which I recently reviewed here.

By just after 6 months, we quickly moved to BLW like we did with Maggie. To be honest, he was more interested in eating our food that puréed food once he realized we weren’t all eating the same thing. We’ve done over 30 foods now and he is really enjoying it. I feel a bit more “seasoned” this time around doing BLW, but I do still have moments of stress. James hasn’t done too much gagging so far but definitely has had some with certain foods more than others.

Want to start your baby on baby-led weaning? Check out this guest post.

I will share our full list when we hit 100 foods, but we started simple with softer options like banana, avocado, etc. I highly recommend the Solid Starts app which we have been using – they have a list of great foods to start BLW with and if you pay, you can also track your foods there (I am just doing mine in notes right now). I like it because it gives you visuals on how to best cut/prepare foods for your baby at different ages. They also have a blog online with additional information that I’ve used a few times.

In regards to allergens, we’ve done a few. I made sure to do peanut butter and eggs as soon as we could and he has had both multiple times now. For the PB, I followed Solid Starts and mixed it with some water (or you can do breast milk) and he just spoon fed himself it (with some assistance of course). Eggs we did larger pieces (like from an omelette) cut up for easy grasping and he’s also had french toast (loved that!) cut into strips. e’s also had sesame – an easy way to do this one is in tahini! We have a few more minor ones to do, but I will probably wait to do shellfish until he is grasping effectively.

Likes & Dislikes

James has been loving all types of food – as I mentioned, his favourites are pasta and egg right now. He also loves pickles and since yesterday, tomato soup.

He loves the dog – especially if she is chasing a ball or running around. He will laugh out loud at her, it’s adorable!

He also loves us – his family, especially his sister who also loves him right back. Siblings are the cutest when they get along!

James has been on a boat and a gator (see here) this summer and he has enjoyed both experiences! For the gator, we use safety ear muffs like these ones from Amazon (*associate link, I may earn from your purchases).

Dislikes – not many. If he’s tired, he doesn’t like strangers too much. He also doesn’t like not eating when everyone else is. Since he started crawling, he also doesn’t like being stopped from going anywhere. He believes he is the master of his own fate LOL.

Thanks for reading as always! Stay tuned for several upcoming posts the 6 month appointment and our toy rotation!