Benjamin: 7 months

Nicknames: Benjamin Kenjamin, Ben-Bo, Mr. Moo, [food] monster, sleepykins
Temperament: happy, easy going, social, fun!

Item/Toy you love the most: stacking rings, blocks, bee toy

Item/Toy we love the most: lillebaby carrier, stacking rings

Things you're loving most right now: putting things in your mouth, sitting, playing, watching Abigail
Things we're loving most right now: your big appetite and enthusiasm for food, your sitting strength, your happy disposition

Eating: 
Ben continues to be a good nurser and is consistently eating twice in the morning before school and twice before bed, plus three bottles totaling 13 ounces of milk during the day at school. On the weekends that usually translates into 2-3 feedings so it seems to work out about right.  He is now eating food at school as well once a day. Ben is very interested in solids and table food. He is pretty happy to eat a puree but is especially interested in having finger food. He has a good raking grasp and can feed himself things like tortellini, grilled cheese, pasta e fagioli, and rotisserie chicken, There was one night at dinner where he ate 8 tortellini (cut into little pieces) and Abigail only had 9!

Sleeping:
Ben is a good sleeper (knock on wood!) He usually falls asleep around 7:30 and had been sleeping until after 6. Lately he is starting to wake up earlier and earlier but I really can't complain. As you can see in the picture, he is starting to move himself around but this does not seem to translate to more wake ups, unless he rolls off the bed, which is rare. He is still sleeping at school but has had shorter naps lately.

Playing:
This is such a fun age! Ben is sitting so well now that he is able to use his hands to explore toys and manipulate everything. He is so much more interactive and playful with us now. He is really enjoying toys he can hit and grab and mouth and luckily we have a lot of those. He also loves to watch Abigail and try to play with her as much as he can.

She loves to play with him and likes to do silly things like put this spinner from the activity mat on his head, and when she laughs he laughs too because if she thinks it is funny she must be right!

He is starting to show more preference for me but is pretty easily distracted and happy most of the time. He loves his daycare teachers and goes easily to them at drop off which has been wonderful.
Ben's new favorite move is to tilt his head and smile at us. He loves to do this when he is sitting in his highchair. He also loves to do it when we meet someone new or see someone we haven't seen in a while. If we tilt our heads in a mirror image of him, he gets a huge smile and then brings his head back up. It is very adorable!

Growth: Ben is definitely getting bigger and seems to be putting on some weight now that he is so enthusiastically eating solids. He is solidly in 6 month clothes and occasionally 9 month pants.