Seven months old

Time is really fly and I can honestly say that with every day that goes by, Elena learns something new, teaches me something amazing and grows more into the person that she is going to be.

As much as I loved every stage we have been through to date, I am really love where she is at now. She is so amazing and as she is so interactive now, we are starting to have so much fun together. I love our playtime together and as she becomes more aware and reactive to the world around her, it is getting harder and harder to leave her when I have to work during the week. Her huge smile and the way she outstretches her arms when I get home is definitely a great reward for putting in a day at work though.

Elena can definitely sit with her toys and self entertain. Of course, the whole time she is sitting there she continues to jabber as she has done for months now. She seems to go on and on. She is saying mama and dada, although she definitely doesn't know what they mean. Nonetheless, it is still cool to hear and I can't wait for her to be able to express herself through words. For now, she is doing a great job of showing what she wants through pointing and grabbing at things. Her new favorite thing is to lean for me when her dad is holding her or when I walk in the room, it definitely makes me smile, although it is a little rough on her dad.

So far, she is also embracing her mom's love of books. She is so amazing at grabbing for them and trying to turn the pages. At times it seems like she is paying attention, and at other times she would rather grab the book and put it in her mouth... but I am taking both as a good sign for her.

Her personality continues to shine through and really comes out more and more of a day. She is definitely a ham and is paying attention to what she does to make me laugh and then continuing to do it over and over again. She is also mimicking a decent amount as well. I had a little bit of a cough, so now of course she thinks it is hilarious to "cough" when I am clearing my throat... I have stopped running for the Pediatricians almanac to see if she is sick (finally) but she still finds it hilarious and I am sure she will continue "coughing" for a while. She also laughs hysterically when I sneeze, so apparently bodily functions are her thing - I will be sure and remind her of this when she is a teenager.

One of Elena's favorite things to do is to play peekaboo, it is amazing to see her face light up and see that she gets that I am still "there" even if she can't see me. The other day, the light clearly went on because as we were playing in the mirror she clearly realized the baby in the mirror was her and not only that but when I was behind her in the mirror it meant I was behind her for real. It was fun to see her put two and two together.

Elena is still a great eater and I am hoping that I am raising a little foody in training, I really want her to continue to like a variety of foods. So far, she has liked everything that we have thrown at her. She even just tried feeding herself some really tiny bits of banana with her fingers and mashing them with her gums. We have also tried a mesh self feeder and she liked the banana in that as well, the apple was a bit too hard. She let me know she liked it through smacking her lips and talking to me the whole time it was in her mouth.

I am not sure, but we could have an athlete on our hands. So far, she loves passing the ball back and forth and has just starting throwing things... across the room, so stay on alert if you are around and Elena has anything in her hands that looks like it needs to be thrown.

The biggest change this past month for Elena has been movement. She has gone from scooting around in circles to get what she wanted - to pulling herself a bit and scooting to move around to just at the seven month mark showing signs of army crawling basically. She still has her right arm tucked under her, but once she figures that out, away she will go! I am sure it will make things a lot more interesting. She is clearly showing signs of wanting to get around more, and loves standing too, but still needs our help and can't do it without some support, soon enough I am sure!

After seeing how much has happened in the last month, watching her personality emerge and learning more and more about her every day - I can't wait to see what the next month has in store for us!