WOW! Who knew Sumner could learn so much in such a short
amount of time! I cannot believe how much he has changed in the past
month. So far, I think I have seen him
discover more new things and become stronger from 7-8 months than I have
between any other months…Something else strange about this month is that it
seemed to go by much slower, and I am thankful for that!
This month
started off with Sumner having the virus the rest of us had. Luckily, his symptoms were mild! His main symptoms were diarrhea and loss of
appetite. The only positive thing about
him being sick was that I got to stay home with him for two days which extended
my Christmas vacation!
Sumner
started crawling January 12th.
We were at my mama’s house and he crawled across my mama’s bed. Later that day, he started crawling on the
floor. He wasn't very fast, but he was
doing a good job of using his knees and
hands. It didn’t take long for him to
get the hang of it, though…Three days later he crawled from the far end of our
living room all the way to his bedroom… When he started towards the hall, I
thought he was just coming to me because I was sitting in the floor. Nope, he went around me and headed towards
his bedroom as if he knew exactly where he wanted to go and happy he knew how
to get there. The only stop he made was
to look at the electrical sockets in the hall… Ugh, not good….
Once he got
the hang of crawling he started pulling up on everything. At first it was short things like my purse,
his diaper bag, and pillows. It didn’t
take long for him to get brave and pull up on tall things. The first thing he really pulled up on was
the bar stool. It was all over with then….
Now he pulls up anything and everything, including you! His favorite thing to do is pull himself up
on the window and look outside. This is
tough because he really doesn’t have anything to grab.
Three weeks
after he started crawling, he stood up without holding on to anything. We were at my mama’s house again. It seems like he saves everything for the
first time to do over there, ha-ha! We were playing with him on the floor and
he just slowly stood, letting go of the toy he was holding one hand at a
time. He stayed standing in the middle
of the floor for about ten seconds before falling on his bottom. Not only is he crawling and pulling up on everything, he is also cruising the furniture! He goes effortlessly from one piece to another.
His newest
thing is he wants you to walk with him holding your fingers. He will grunt until you do it. He has become fast with this, too. He moves
his feet as if he were really walking.
He has the motion down pat. The
only thing he is lacking is balance.
Once he gets that, he is going to be gone!
All of this moving comes with an increased risk of injury, unfortunately… We had our first incident Thursday, January 31st. Matthew was feeding Sumner in our bed and I was on the other side of the bed getting ready for work. After Sumner was finished with his bottle, Matthew crawled out of bed, turned around to pick Sumner up to change him, and THAT QUICK Sumner took off towards the other end of the bed where I was and fell off :( My back was tuned and all I heard was Matthew yelling at me to catch him and I just couldn’t get him in time. We felt terrible! Our baby fell off the bed! And we are ALWAYS so careful! We NEVER leave him on the bed alone… Not even for a second. We never dreamed he would fall off just as we get out of bed and turn to pick him up… This boy is SO fast! I saw him land, and it terrified me because he landed straight on his head. I know some may say we overreacted, but I would rather be safe than sorry, so we took him to the hospital. Of course, everything was fine. The ER doctor said he would probably experience a lot of falls in the years to come and the general rule of thumb is that if they fall from something as tall as they are, then it is usually ok. Our bed isn’t much taller than Sumner. It could have been bad, so I thanked God for keeping him safe.
Speaking of him being fast, he is also very active. This baby NEVER stops. From the minute he wakes up in the morning until the time he goes to bed, he is in high gear. He zooms from room to room following us wherever we go. He will not sit with you without wanting to stand in your lap and bounce. Even in his high chair and car seat, he has to be moving…. Either his feet or arms are kicking at all times. When I tell people how active he is they just don’t get it until they are around him or try to hold him. I cannot tell you how many times I have heard from various people “that boy never slows down.” He gets it honest though… His daddy was the one who climbed the flag pole on a school field trip and did other things requiring TONS of stored up energy! I knew he would be like this when I was pregnant with him. He moved ALL the time. Dr. Jordan who sees babies all the time even remarked on how active he was as he was doing one of our ultrasounds! I even asked Dr. Jordan one time if it were possible for babies to have seizures in the womb because there were times Sumner would kick so fast, non-stop, for 30 seconds straight. You could see it through my clothes and everything…. It was crazy!
Matthew,
Sumner, and I have really been enjoying our weekends together. Two weekends in particular were very
special. One was January 19th. Matthew had to go to Valdosta to get his
4-wheeler serviced so we rode with him.
While it was getting serviced, we did a little shopping at ate lunch at
Longhorn. Sumner rode in the buggy like
a big boy for the first time, too, and LOVED it. His head couldn’t turn fast enough for him to
see everything! Another special day was
January 26th. Sumner slept a
little later than usual, so Matthew cooked us breakfast. Then, we went to Jill Stringfellow’s to see
Sumner’s 6 month pictures. Afterwards,
we went to visit my daddy and grandparents.
My favorite thing in the whole world is spending time with my
family. It doesn’t take anything fancy
to make sweet memories!
Now to the basics… Sumner said “mama” last month, but his new favorite word is “dada”. He says it over and over. He is putting many new sounds together, too. There is nothing sweeter than hearing him “talk”. When he is riding in the car he really “talks”. I just smile! I have recoded a lot of it too because I know I will miss those sounds once he really begins talking. Sumner had his first ear infection this month. Luckily, he didn’t show any symptoms. In fact, the only reason I took him to the doctor was because his cold hadn’t improved, which I guess could have caused the ear infection…? Anyway, Dr. Griffen said it wasn’t a bad infection, and prescribed him Amoxicillin. We go back next week to get his ears checked again. At that visit he weighed 20 lbs. He grew a lot since his 6 month visit! Must be all that good food I am cooking him J He is still wearing size 3 diapers, still toothless and he wears 12 month clothes (18 month onesies because they run so small.) He is continuing to sleep all night and we are all happy about that! He isn't as interested in mirrors anymore. He loves pop-up things. My mama has this toy at her house with several Mickey Mouse characters that pop up and you push back down. He loves it! I am going to have to find him one for our house. He gets very excited when my closet door is accidentally left open and he can crawl inside and grab my clothes off the hangers or play with my shoes. He has one favorite shoe in particular... Its a black flat shoe with a bow on the top. I try to always keep my closet door shut because him playing with my shoes is gross. But he is so fast and he notices it immediately when it is left open. Unfortunately he also loves cords.... We are having to unplug everything during the day so he won't grab them. As I said earlier, he loves staring outside. He will crawl to our french doors and look out onto the screened porch. His MeeMee also opens our indoor shutters during the day so he can crawl over there and stand up and watch cars drive by. If I need to entertain him when I am doing things in the kitchen, all I have to do is give him a pot, a spoon, and a couple of plastic bowls and he will play forever. I have picture albums at the bottom of my coffee table and he likes to get down there and drag them out. I guess I need to put some of his books down there so he can grab them instead. But, knowing him, he won't want his books, he will still want the ones he isn't suppose to have! He loves his barn toy box. Its the perfect height for him to pull up and see inside. He grabs his favorite toys out and sits down and plays. He wears size 3 diapers. He is such a wiggle worm, it is very difficult to put them on. He wears size 12 month clothes, but it won't be long before he will be in 18 month. He drinks between 6-8 ounces 3-4 times a day.
His schedule hasn’t changed much. The only difference is that I do not give put him to bed immediatley after his bottle anymore. Instead, I give him a bath right after he eats supper. That way we have time to play some when Matthew gets home. Also, he was getting too sleepy by the time I gave him a bath and got him ready to bed, that he wouldn't drink his last bottle. Now, the first sigh I see that he is sleepy I take him to his room, and rock/feed him, and put him to sleep.
A typical day goes like this…
6:30 Wake up
7:30 Bottle
8:30 Nap
11:00 Lunch
12:00 Bottle
12:30 Nap
4:00 Bottle
5:30 Supper
6:00 Bath
7:30 Bedtime (small bottle to help him go to sleep)
This is has been an exciting month for Sumner. He has grown and changed so much. I pray for God’s blessings next month, the
month after that, and for his whole life.
I can’t wait to see what the Lord has in store for Sumner’s sweet life.
Dear Sumner,
I cannot believe
you are already 2/3 of a year old. This time last year we were just finding out
your gender, and now here you are… Impressing us with all of your new
abilities. I knew I would love you then,
but I just could not imagine how much I would love you. I leave every morning for work counting down the
hours until I get to come home and play with you! You are such a joy and a blessing to me, and
many others. I love you sweet baby, as
high as the sky and the ocean is deep and more and more and more!!!!!
Love,
Your Mama
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