Look at me climb!

We have a climber! In the past week, Landen has been pulling himself up on anything that he can get a hold of. If he can, he pulls himself on top and over it. He has been trying to crawl with his belly off the floor. He gets up on his knees, but doesn't really know how to move once he gets there, so he falls to his belly to move. Also this past week, he has started waving bye-bye, just not every time we want him to. He gives fives now (unless he is distracted by something). He also learned how to give raspberries on my cheek. Now that I think about it, he learned a lot this week!

Pictures:
1 - Landen pulled up on the TV stand. He kind of got stuck once he got in that position.
2 - He used the table to pull up to his knees, then proceeded to crawl through.
3 - He was trying to get my hand and crawled on top of my sewing box.
4-6 This actually started out with Landen pulling up to his knees on the basket of books. He then shuffled around to get something on the coffee table. As I moved it away, he just worked harder at reaching it. He stood on his tip toes for a little while and then discovered that if he put his knee in the basket he could reach a little farther. Then with a little work, he got both feet in the basket which is how he got on top of the table. Then the thing he was after fell to the floor and he tried the get it. Right after I snapped the picture, I stood up and grabbed his ankle just before he fell on his head. This kid is fearless!

My little musician!

Landen found a return air vent this afternoon and discovered that it would make noise if he ran his fingers over it. He was occupied for about 20 minutes. I was afraid that his fingers would be sore afterward. They were just dirty! I think that he is going to be a musician.

Funny boy!

Landen is back to himself this week. He is moving faster and getting into more every day. He explores everywhere he can go. He crawls into the kitchen (even when I am not in there), then through the kitchen to the back doorway/laundry room. On his way there, he will stop to chew on the high chair, examine the rugs/stove/drawer knobs/baskets or anything that catches his attention. The whole time he will make a high pitched "huh" sound as if he is saying, "Mom, are you watching me attempt to go somewhere or do something that I am not supposed to do?" It is really funny when he makes that sound when he is headed for the front door and I say, "Landen, NO." He stops for a short time, says "huh, huh," and then moves even faster to the linoleum before I get there to move him away from the cold doorway. Of course, he screams or cries because he has found the springy door stopper to be fun to play with or chew on. Landen loves to crawl through things. A couple weeks ago I posted a picture of him crawling through the legs of the coffee table. Now, he crawls through, turns around and crawls through again. This keeps him entertained for a while because he has to stop and slap the piece of slate which rocks a little if he hits it just right. Today, he crawled into the bottom part of his activity center (see picture above). Later when I was finishing my supper, he crawled into the kitchen and went between the chair I was sitting in and the wall. He spotted a couple of pop boxes in the corner and went right to them. The 7-up box was open and he wasted no time getting a can out of the box. He loves to chew on cold pop cans, so he started playing with it. Then it rolled under the table, and he chased it down. I watched the whole time, and couldn't resist taking a picture of him playing with a pop can under the table (see picture above).

The first picture is one from Christmas that I accidentally overlooked when I posted Christmas pictures. These are all of the Wragge Great-grandkids (Elliot's side). The second picture is a funny one after a bath one night. Landen was really wiggly and wound up and he kept rolling over on the changing table, so I thought I would take the opportunity to take a cute picture.

7 months

Landen turned seven months old on Friday. I took him to the doctor for his 7 month check up on Thursday. He weighs 17# 8oz, and is 27 1/4 in tall. He didn't gain and weight but he grew a half inch. Thursday after we were at the doctor, he started getting crabby. I thought it was just because he missed his nap. I had to cut my visit with my grandma short because his was not happy. When we got home, we both laid down for a nap (I had an upset stomach from lunch). When Landen woke up, he had a temp of 100.9. I expected to be up with him throughout the night, but he slept all night. Friday and Saturday he was fine. Sunday Landen and I both came down with a cold... stuffy nose, sneezing, coughing. Sunday night I heard Landen coughing during the night, but I didn't have to get up with him. Last night was a different story. He was in bed for an hour, then woke up coughing and congested. Elliot tried rocking him back to sleep, but he just wouldn't relax, so I had to get up to help. I had to call the hospital for advice because I had already tried everything (cold/cough medicine, vaporizer with vicks, one end of the mattress raised, vicks baby rub on chest back and feet). They told me to sit with him in the bathroom with the shower running to loosen the mucus in his sinuses. Then bundle him up and take him outside for a short time to stop the coughing. After trying those tricks and more medicine at 2:40 am, I finally got him to nurse to sleep. I continued to hold him until 4:00 am because the other times I tried to lay him down, he started crying. He finally stayed asleep until 8:30. Today, he was still crawling all over, so he felt better. He even took a 3 hour nap this afternoon. He seemed a little plugged up when I put him to bed tonight, hopefully he sleeps better. (I need the rest!)
Pictures:
1 - 7 month pic in the same spot on the couch that I take every month to show how big he is getting. I get him to smile like that by squeaking his rubber duck. If you got our Christmas card, that is what we used to get that grin.
2 - Landen crawled in the kitchen and was reaching for a butter dish on the bottom shelf. I had to clear that shelf because it was impossible to try to keep him out of it. Now I just put toys there to entertain him while I am in the kitchen.
3 - Landen LOVES the TV remote. He will dive out of our arms to get it. I try to distract him with toys, but he would rather have the remote.

WOW!!!

Ok, Landen really surprised me tonight while I was getting his bath ready. I put him in his crib so that I could fill the tub. When I went to get him undressed, I found him as you can see in the pictures. He has pulled himself up to the coffee table to get something that caught his attention, but he falls back right away. He stayed on the crib rail for a long time and could have stayed longer if I hadn't picked him up. I guess I will be lowering the mattress sooner than I thought. You can see in the picture that his is on his knees; I wonder how long it will be before he figures out how to stand!!!

We are going to the doctor on Thursday, so I will post again sometime after Thursday.

Crawl, baby, crawl!!!

Here is a short video of Landen crawling on the kitchen floor. Surprisingly, he is also this fast on carpet! I really have to watch him close now because he can get across the living room in a matter of seconds. I have to constantly pull him away from the TV, front door and other things that I don't want him messing with. He is learning to stop or slow down when I say his name, though!

Happy New Year!

Landen has learned yet another skill starting last Friday. He is crawling now! It is actually more of an inch worm type crawl. With his belly on the floor, he pulls his knees under him, reaches his arms out as far as they will go then pulls with his arms and pushes with his legs at the same time to scoot himself forward. It is pretty funny to watch. He is also surprisingly fast. We spent Friday night with the Hoefs' family for Christmas. Elliot's cousin Erin has triplets (second picture: Xander, Will and Grace) that we actually got to see for the second time in less than a month. It was a nice quiet night compared to the other Christmases that we had. Saturday Elliot and I decided to got to Kearney at the last minute to do a little after Christmas shopping. It was a quick trip, but it was fun. Sunday was relaxed. Monday night we went to a New Year's Eve party at a friends house. Landen was pretty good even though it was very noisy. In the 3rd picture, Landen is playing with noise maker at midnight. He was very tired, but he wouldn't nurse or fall asleep. We all slept late the next morning. Tuesday, once we got up and around, we took down all of the Christmas decorations. Today I took Landen for a sled ride around the yard (last picture). He loved it. He was giggling at the neighbor's dogs when they would bark. The last couple of days, Landen has been cranky. I think it is a combination of teething (no new teeth yet), the crazy holidays with messed up schedules, and separation anxiety. He screams if I set him on the living room floor surrounded by toys, then go to the kitchen for something.

The first picture, Landen is surrounded by all of his new John Deere toys and wearing his new JD shirt and socks.
4th pic: Landen crawled under the coffee table