My darling Felix. Please forgive me for being so slow at writing your seven and eight month updates. We have been so busy as a family, cherishing every day of the six week summer holidays and spending two weeks in Spain meeting your Grandad for the first time.
It feels like eons since I wrote your six month update, and boy, haven’t you changed beyond all measure since then?
You’ve been cutting your top teeth for a good month or so now. We first noticed the tell tale signs of teething at the end of July, but this coincided with a bout of thrush. We’d never dealt with thrush before, but a couple of trips to the pharmacist left us with some cream we had to apply a few times a day. The first pharmacist thought it was just teething, but the symptoms over the next 24 hours proved more than that. A few days later, once it had all cleared up, we could see the white of the tooth poking through, but even now, a whole month later, it’s still not fully through, and the one next to it looks the same too. You don’t ever complain though! Before we flew to Spain, i bought lots of Calpol, teething powder and rings, but you’ve never really needed them.
Clothes wise you are well and truly into 6-9, although we do get away with a few 3-6 bits. I reluctantly put away the last of the 0-3 month stuff yesterday and got the 9-12 month out of the loft. One sleepsuit in 6-9 which was massive on you before we went on holiday is now super snug and that makes me feel so sad. You are growing so quickly baby boy.
You are absolutely loving your food now. You went from being totally unsure about baby led weaning and the spoon, to being a complete monster within a couple of weeks. You have never really gagged like Dexter did, which should make me feel better, but weirdly, makes me feel more nervous! You eat everything in sight. You love pinwheels, chicken, pasta, veggie burgers, spaghetti bolognese, crackers, sweet potatoes, rice, bread, waffles and pancakes. Sometimes I feed you bits from a spoon (which I never did with Dexter) and you particularly like sausage casserole with sweet potato mash, chilli and rice and chicken curry.
At seven months you were still on five bottle a day of 7oz, but now at eight months, you are down to 3-4 bottles a day, totalling 21-28oz, which is good considering how much you eat. You usually have a bottle first thing in the morning, one after lunch and one before bed. The extra one usually comes in before lunch if you haven’t napped particularly well.
Sleeping is still a work in progress. We have now switched you from the Chicco Next to Me into your proper cot, but the cot is now in our room. You go to sleep between 6-7pm each night and sleep contently, with the odd wake up for the dummy, until 5.30am. At this point you come in with us and either go back to sleep or have a bottle and are up for the day. I am ready to try you in your own room, but Daddy is a little reluctant (maybe because he is the one who wakes first, whereas I sleep through your moans and groans!)
Naps are going well. You are two a day. One at around 9am after breakfast and another mid afternoon at two or three o’ clock. When we first moved you into your cot, you struggled a bit to get to sleep after months and months of co-sleeping. But now, you fall asleep nearly instantly with a small bit of hand holding.
You’ve started crawling since the last update I wrote – I say crawling – it’s more like an extra from the Walking Dead dragging himself along the floor, even now, a month later. You enjoy getting up on your knees, rocking back and forth, but you still haven’t mastered crawling on your knees, preferring instead to drag yourself along using your arms. You are starting, in recent days, to pull yourself up in your cot or onto your brother, as he plays alongside you. You are taking more of an interest in toys and you can now sit unsupported for longer periods of time, playing with Duplo or soft bricks.
Felix, everyday you become you’re own person, but you are still the happiest, smiliest baby I have ever seen. Your hair is starting to grow, which sometimes looks red and other times looks blond, and your personality shines through more and more each day. You are soft and gentle, whereas your brother never was at this age, and you will stroke our faces and accept our hugs and kisses. If you want to go somewhere or need to have something known, you let us know sharply, but immediately are full of smiles once more.Even when ravenous, you can’t help but smile beautifully at us upon us picking you up.
You coped so well on your first holiday abroad, sleeping soundly on the flight there and back, coping well with the ridiculous heat and eating and drinking as if it were business as usual. We never have to worry about you Felix, you are so content and we are extremely lucky to have you in our lives.
I promise the next update at nine months won’t be as delayed as this one. Until then, we love you to the moon and back little Felix. Forever and always.