Something new every day

At seven months old (yes, SEVEN!!), Ryder learns or does something new almost every day, I swear! I will give a little update for you friends and family members who do not get to see Ryder regularly. Over the last month, he has started to shake toys. At first it was this slow up and down, up and down gross motor movement. Now he actually shakes toys fast when he knows that they make noise. It's really cute.

Also really cute?? When he turns toys over in his hands while examining them. He gets that big bottom lip that I call his "thinking lip" puckered out...stares hard at the toy and turns it over and over in his hands looking at all sides of it. :)

What else...oh, he basically sits up on his own now. The only time he takes a tumble is when he looks up at something. He doesnt quite get the concept of looking up with just his neck/head...he looks up using his whole body, which is why he tumbles backwards!

If he wasn't such a chub, my guess is he would be crawling really soon. He constantly wants to move and get things out of his reach, but since he can't move...he just gets mad and squirms a ton. It makes him sooo mad...I laugh because it's funny when he tries to throw his body in the direction of something, but at the same time kinda feel bad for him because he gets so frustrated!!

Something that happened just tonight finally that clicked for him is the concept of picking food up and feeding himself. I have tried every couple days over the last few weeks to get him to learn this skill, or at least get the idea of it down. I put these "melt away" yogurt bites that melt really quickly in the mouth on his tray. At first he just flung them all over and pushed them around the tray without putting them in his mouth. I thought this was really weird considering he puts EVERYTHING in his mouth, but then when I put food infront of him...he didn't. So I waited. I tried a few other times, and he did the same thing...and when I would put a small piece in his mouth to show him it was food, he would push it immediately to the back of his throat without chewing and he would cough and choke. Okay, still not ready. Then yesterday I tried it again and he finally figured out how to pick up the small pieces in his hand, but he couldn't get the skill of transferring it from his hand to his mouth. I wanted to show Joe tonight what I was "working" on with him, and he actually put a bunch in his mouth...AND chewed too! It was really cute. I could tell he was kinda pumped about it.

Crazy how time flies huh??