Robinson is 7 Months Old!

It is common practice among new mothers to photograph their child each month, seated in a chair with a stuffed animal as a frame of reference to show how their little angel has grown and changed. Not to be outdone, I photograph Robinson in a chair with a real animal. Laney and Robinson really hit it out of the park with their six month photo, so I had high hopes for yesterday's photo shoot. It should be noted that I took over 40 pictures of them before selecting this winner, which happened to be the third snap. I have to say--this was not the look I was going for--but Rob and Laney give good face, don't they? The way they are casually draped over the furniture, seemingly oblivious to one another, and looking totally indifferent, it reminds one of a Vanity Fair cover, or a Kardsashian Kristmas Kard:

Ba-da-ba-ba-ba, I'm lovin' it.

So, Robinson is seven months old. This is an interesting time in a baby's life, because a number of major milestones are on the horizon. Robinson could very well hit any of these milestones today. Or in three months. It would appear that Robinson has filed for an extension on achieving these milestones. Hey, if you can get an extension on filing your tax return, why can't Rob get an extension on crawling? It's like he knows that as soon as he can move freely through the house, Mama's gonna put a Dirt Devil in his chubby little hands and ask him to pitch in with the housework. I kid. Here's a rundown:

Sitting
Robinson demonstrates that he is fully capable of sitting upright without assistance, but nobody ever told him. Last week, it occurred to me that maybe I should tell him that he can sit up. It's literally the very least I could do. So, I propped him up in a seated position and handed him his plastic car keys. He was so delighted and distracted by this shiny colorful object (he takes after his mama), that he actually held this upright seated position for several seconds. I was cheering for him and offering positive reinforcement (isn't that what you mothers do?) That's when he realized he was sitting up by himself and he began to panic. I asked him, "Rob, you're sitting up. Has this idea ever crossed your mind?" It's a valid question. Hell, for all I know, he's drifting off to sleep every night in his little baby bed, where he dreams little baby dreams of sitting up by himself...if only he could figure out how. That's where I come in. Robinson's eyes are screaming. He tips over, and cries. Shake it off, buddy. We'll try again in a week or two.


This is Robinson sitting for a brief, though glorious moment

 Crawling
I'm often asked whether or not Robinson is crawling yet. It seems a little early for that. The short answer is "No". But there is no such thing as a short answer when talking about your baby, haven't you figured that out yet? We always have to describe things, qualify our statements, defend and explain. I'm always asked the follow-up question: "But he's scooting, right?" I have no idea what "scooting" is, but I sort of figured that I'd know it when I see it. Robinson rolls. He shimmies. He slithers. He rotates. He travels.


This is Robinson not crawling.

Teething

The poor little guy is miserable. And he has no use for teething rings, despite my encouragement. Libby finds them delightful, though. Tylenol and Baby Orajel help ease his suffering, and I know we'll all feel some relief when those little teeth cut through.

Mallory the Monkey

Family Guy's Stewie has Rupert, and Robinson has Mallory the Monkey.

She's more exotic than the traditional teddy bear--she's a red monkey dressed as a hula dancer. What could be more fun? She's more than a basic stuffed animal. She jiggles when you yank her cord (giggity) and she holds in her hands a pineapple that rattles and a fish that jingles. Robinson is especially fond of the pineapple. Every time I look at him in his car seat or stroller when he's by himself with the Monkey, he's always clutching the pineapple. Always the pineapple. Here are some outtakes from the Seven Month photo shoot, where I gave up on getting a smile and tossed the Monkey onto the chair beside him.



"Would you care for a pineapple?"



"You wouldn't? What a shame. Whatever shall I do with the pineapple?"



Om nom nom nom nom