chunky monkey

Cate has a 2nd tooth just starting to break through-- it's the other front bottom toothy that's causing her a lot of pain and irritation. She had her 7 month check-up and boy is she growing! She officially weighs as much as James did at his 1st birthday (almost to the ounce!)-- and let me tell ya, it's all in those chubby chubby thighs!

Height: 27.25 inches (70-80th percentile)
Weight: 20 lb.s 8 ounces (95th percentile)
Head: 43.5 cm (55th percentile)

She's also finally starting to roll around a bit and is struggling to get her hips off the ground so she can crawl after her brother. During tummy time she does full push-ups to watch everyone, can spin 180 degrees (if she doesn't accidentally tip herself over onto her back instead), and keeps digging in with her toes and knees like she's thinking about the mechanics of this whole moving business.

She loves food, obviously, and I suspect she's even preferring it over her "milkies" (although she still likes nursing at naptime). At meal time, she'll sit with her mouth hanging open like a little guppy staring fervently at everyone else's dinner hoping a tiny morsel will find it's way into her awaiting pie-hole. She pretty much likes all the foods we've tried so far (apples, pears, bananas, oatmeal, sweet potatoes, corn, butternut squash, winter squash) except carrots. She didn't like those carrots much. We suspect she's allergic to pear though since she'll scratch her ears incessantly afterwards.

James (or, Jamesy as he prefers these days-- it's mama's nickname for him) speaks in complete paragraphs, detailing his adventures of the day and even making up some of his own stories. He loves to draw circles and even drew a hopscotch on our garage floor in chalk (the "squares" were more circular but they were arranged in a cross shape just like a typical hopscotch pattern) and proceeded to jump on it-- we don't pay our day care lady nearly enough for all the fun things she teaches the kids!

James also still has the memory of an elephant and brings up subject matter that's history even to our adult minds-- he talks about santa claus several times a week (think that bounce house really made an impression on him-- santa's one cool dude!), was talking about the play-doh at Taadu's house (haven't been there since Thanksgiving) after seeing a commercial for it on the tv, and just does a really good job of bringing up topics that occurred months before. The kid does not forget things easily!