Since I've dropped the ball on updating regularly, I wanted to be sure to do a post on all the exciting things Evan has learned to do recently.

At 3 months

• He's just beginning to laugh.

• He's smiling like crazy and interacting with us.

• He is more intermittently fussy than he was during his first two months, especially during the hours right before bedtime. He cries a lot then and needs to be nursed and soothed.

• He can roll from tummy to back, but doesn't like to do it much.

• He's making cute baby sounds - "how, ooh, goo, ga."

• He loves to be held and rocked, and loves to fall asleep while nursing and sleep on Mommy.

• He peeks over our shoulder with wide, bright little eyes - we call him Bright Eyes, like Geema used to call me.

• He had his first ear infection (double), with pink eye to go along with it; Seth had his first ear infection at six months, so little Evan wants to be ahead of the curve. Antibiotics cleared it up for him.

• He's starting to hold/grasp at toys and his paci.

• Evan and Seth are "playing" more together - cooing and smiling.

• Evan likes to take his naps on us or in the carrier.

• He likes to hold onto his paci and try to get it in his mouth.

At 4 months

• He likes "standing" on our legs or a surface with our support.

• He likes sitting in his bebe pod seat. Seth likes to sit in a chair next to him and hold his hand.

• He likes "sitting" with support in our laps.

• If we pull on his hands, he can pull up to sitting.

• He loves grabbing toys hanging from his toy mat.

• He loves playing with his feet when he's on his back.

• He pulls his feet up and rolls onto his side.

• He loves to clasp his hands and cross his feet when he's nursing.

• He loves to suck on his hands.

• He's really started laughing!

• We're trying to have him sleep more upstairs in the playpen in our bedroom instead of downstairs in the playpen in the living room so that I can get some more sleep in the bed instead of on the couch.

• We're trying to phase out having him sleep with the light on - we got a little nightlight we call "Glow Man" - Seth has one, too.

• He's still a great little nurser!

At 5 months

• He's finally able to get his feet in his mouth - this brings him incredible excitement!

• He's also learned how to shriek like a pteradactyl, as we call it. We remember Seth going through his phase, too.

• He's decided that he will roll consistently from tummy to back now, even though he didn't like doing it when the was younger.

• We're starting to work on taking naps in the crib.

• He says "how, goo, oh, ooh, hi."

• We've started to work a little on sleep training.

• He's still fussy around 7pm or so, so we're working on putting him to sleep then.

• He's still waking up once or twice in the night to nurse.

• He's able to pass an object from one hand to another.

• He's smiling, laughing and interacting.

• He likes us to play with him, tickle him, make him laugh (especially Daddy and Seth).

• He loves when Seth tickles him - they hold hands in the double stroller. So cute!

• He had his first time in the pool for a swimming lesson and loved it!

• We discover Evan likes walks at dusk, just like Seth did.

At 6 months

• Right around five and a half months or so, after getting back from Papa's, we noticed Evan was still really fussy about going to sleep on his own. We took him to the pediatrician, and low and behold, he had another ear infection. Poor guy. After clearing this up with antibiotics, we decided it was time to give sleep training another try.

• This time, sleep training was really successful! Like our pediatrican says, it really only takes three days to break a habit. After clearing up the ear infection, Evan was just developmentally ready to learn to fall asleep on his own. For the first few days, he would cry for a while as he was falling asleep in his crib (hard not to be heartbroken by this), but he quickly got his fussing down to a minimum with reassurance from us (we'd go in and rub his tummy at different intervals), and he really seems to feel comfortable in his crib and get a good rest there.

• When Evan learned to fall asleep on his own, he stopped using his pacifier. We miss seeing it a bit, but we know it will be much easier that he gave it up on his own.

  • He is a busy boy now, so he no longer clasps his hands and crosses his feet when he nurses. Instead, he often stretches or plays with his feet!

• Evan has learned how to blow raspberries, or give zerberts, whatever you call it. It is very cute to hear him making the little noises with his lips.

• After returning from Cape Cod, we put away the bouncer and the swing, which he had outgrown, and got out the exersaucer. He immediately took to this, and enjoys "working in his office," as we call it (a funny expression we got from daycare).

• Just before he turned six months, we started giving him rice cereal. He took to it really well, and we can tell he is going to like food!

• We had been feeding him while he was sitting in the bebe pod seat, but decided he was ready for his highchair after we got back from vacation. We set it up, and he took right to that as well, though you better feed him fast and take him out as soon as he is done eating!

• He's so close to rolling from back to front - he swings his leg up to his side, but he is not quite there yet.

• By the end of 6 months, he was taking all his naps and nighttime sleeping in his own room in his crib.

At 7 months

• Just before 7 months, he finally mastered rolling from back to front! He was a bit timid at first, but within a couple days he had mastered it and now he flips back and forth like a pro! Now that he can get around like this, we can't leave him to play on his back on the toymat anymore if we run to the kitchen or the bathroom, so that has been a big readjustment when home alone with him and Seth. But, we work it out!

• At 7 months, he also started to get his First Teeth! The two middle bottom teeth started to poke through just at about the same time. It took a couple weeks to get them through enough where they weren't painful, but Evan was a good little sport and infant tylenol seemed to help a lot.

• He's settled into a predictable napping schedule, which is amazing! He goes down for a 1-2 hour morning nap about 2 hours after he wakes up, and another 1-2 hour afternoon nap about 2 hours after that. Sometimes he'll take a shorter third nap before going down for the night around 8:00 or 9:00. Usually Evan and Seth take their afternoon nap at the same time, which is great.

• He has also started sleeping through the night (sometimes), meaning he might sleep for 8-10 hours at a stretch, though sometimes he will still get up once or twice in the night.

• He's learned how to say the syllable "Da da."

• He's still nursing great, and he's really enjoying food! We've introduced rice, barley, and oatmeal cereal, baby food fruits such as apples, bananas, and pears, baby food vegetables such as sweet potatoes, carrot, and peas, and baby yogurt. He eats food three times a day in between nursing and napping, and he is always eager for food!

• We've decided that Evan is part monkey, because he uses his feet to pick up and hold toys so that he can play with them more easily with his hands - it is truly amazing!

• He is already taking after Seth in learning to stall for bedtime, as he gets absolutely adorable when we get him in his sleepsack and go to put him to bed.

• He takes after his big brother in that when he poops, he stops what he is doing and his face turns all red. He seems to poop the most either in the car seat, the highchair, or the exersaucer. If he is in the saucer, he stops his playing, and pulls up his little legs while he poops, then when he is done, starts bouncing up and down again.

On the verge

• Evan is just about ready to crawl - he can roll himself back and forth to get places, and he can scoot a bit if he really wants to reach something. Crawling can't be far off!

• He's also getting much better at sitting with assistance - sitting unassisted is not far away either.

We have so enjoyed these past months with Evan - can't wait to see what is next!