7-8 months letter

To my big boy Riku,

Well, I didn't manage to write you a 7-month letter on time after all, so I'll have to condense two into one this time and try harder next time! You have made amazing progress in the last two months- you can now sit up completely unaided without needing cushions around you in case you fall over (you do still occasionally fall over, bonk your head on the floor and cry but it only happens once every few days now!)

From about 6 weeks ago you started to scoot around the hardwood floors in an army crawl position- always backwards though, so you would keep going until you backed yourself into a corner and then get upset if someone didn't save you! About a month ago that skill was superseded- you managed to get up on all fours and started rocking, slowly at first and then faster and faster, and now you can crawl- not really the sustained, right left right left kind of crawling yet, but you are definitely getting yourself around the room these days.

You are starting to be able to pull yourself upon furniture, on us or on your play gym but usually don't quite get all the way there yourself. Not very far off now I'm sure! Once you are up you can stand for a while and play with things on the table but you sometimes forget you can't stand by yourself just yet and let go with both hands so we have to be right there to catch you still.

You passed your 7-month check with flying colours- you are about 75th percentile for height and 25th for weight, so on the long and lean side, but the doctor didn't seem concerned and that body type is in your genes anyway, it was probably unlikely that your dad and I would have had a very chubby baby. Other than your cheeks of course, which lots of people comment on!

Introducing solid foods is still a hit and miss affair- spoons are still very much a no-go, whether I'm holding it or you are. You like some of the packaged baby snacks that I buy at the baby shops and love cheese, but most food you tend to have a very cursory gnaw on and then throw off the side of your chair- again and again if I keep putting it back on the tray for you. Foods you haven't outright rejected lately include mandarin segments and sekihan (sticky red rice with beans), but at this point you are still about 95% breast fed, so the search continues for foods you will/can eat! One thing you can now do though is drink from a cup with a straw by yourself- you learned to do it with only about five minutes of practice, very impressive!

In the last 3 weeks or so your "vocabulary" has increased a lot, with dadada, byabya and daidai being the favourites at the moment, with quite a range of intonation that we weren't hearing before. Although you were saying mama from about 3 months, we haven't really heard that lately!

Next week will be your first time on a plane as we head to New Zealand for Christmas- I don't imagine we'll get a lot of sleep on the overnight flight on the way there, but not to worry, we are used to that! I have never slept well on planes anyway, and since you still wake up anything from three to six times a night anyway it won't be so different from usual ;) I wish we could have practiced on a shorter flight somewhere, but never mind- I am really looking forward to being able to take you to the beach and introduce you to your New Zealand family including your great grandmother.

We are loving watching you become more and more active and interested in the world around you and can't wait to see what the next month will bring!

Kissing your reflection in the mirror in your book :)

Checking out the giant dice in the kids' play area in Kichijoji

Lots of love from your mummy and papa xxx