How time flies, Part Z!!

And then there was another novella...

Cheese 'n Presents!

Zachary and the Lovable Seven Months
Sweet, sweet Zachary!!  21 pound Zachary has grown so very much over the last couple of months!  He is now belly flopping his way around the house to get from toy to toy and person to person!  He pulls himself into the crawling position on hands and knees, lurches forward, and lands flat on his belly half a baby length in front of where he started.  To each his own, I suppose!  Nicholas chose rolling and then army crawling as his main methods of movement before he started walking.  Zachary is also pulling up on various objects to stand!  What a big boy!  One day he was very shaky on his feet, then he had a day of long, intense sleep, and then the next day, he was standing tall!!  Zachary is still battling his rosy cheeks that we presume to be childhood eczema.  Hopefully that will continue to improve as he gets a little older.  But never fear, Zachary!!  We still think your rosy cheeks are cute and pinch-able!!  :o)

Zachary finally graduated to his own room at six and a half months of age!  Daddy disassembled the crib in our room and reassembled it in Zachary's room.  He seems to enjoy his own space!

Zachary's diet is finally expanding, too!!  He is finally eating a wide variety of squishy baby foods!  He seems to enjoy bananas and sweet potatoes the most.  Well, as long as you're not counting his Gerber Puffs!!  That definitely remains a favorite!  He's almost got the thumb-pointer finger pincer grasp figured out!  What a happy day it will be for him when he can finally feed himself his own Puffs!!  :o)  Zachary is also drinking very well from his straw cup now!  He did a complete 180 when he decided that water wasn't the most disgusting liquid ever...  He decided that it was actually quite tasty!  And, if you listen closely, you can hear him say "Wa-ter" as you walk towards him with the coveted straw cup of water! 

It's so fun to watch Zachary's speech develop!!  He's approaching it so differently than Nicholas did as a baby.  Zachary is definitely going to be a babbler!  He'll repeat "I love you" and other such phrases in his own baby babbles that no one other than his parents and grandparents could translate.  Nicholas never babbled.  He waited until he knew how to pronounce the words "perfectly" (I use this word very loosely!  "Perfectly for a baby" might be a better way to put it!) before he spoke them.  Then, he slowly added words together until he had full sentences going.  Never babbles.  But, Zachary's babbles and inflections sure are cute!!  Still, his most famous and frequently used word is "Hiiiiiiiiii!"  (Said with a huge grin!)

Swinging is FUN!!

It seems that Zachary might enjoy music just as much as his brother!  He was so intrigued by the real upright piano at Grandma & Grandpa's house!  I walked in the room to watch Nicholas playing the piano, only to find that it was actually Zachary's little fingers flying across the keys and making beautiful baby music!  Zachary also enjoys picking at, and occasionally strumming, Nicholas's guitar strings.  He is a happy member of the Brother Band!!  Both of the boys are still enrolled in Music Together music classes and their teacher loves to comment on how wide-eyed and involved little Zachary is with the music and the class!  He loves bouncing up and down to music.  But, the songs that put the biggest smiles on his face are sung by his big brother!  Such sweet brothers.

Zachary loves the baby grand piano!

Since Nicholas's unofficial Little Gym graduation, Zachary has started his very own Little Gym classes...mostly to meet and interact with other little babies.  (I really want to take him to some infant Story Times at local libraries to interact with other kiddos for free.  But alas, none are scheduled during Nicholas's preschool hours, and they all specifically say "No older siblings allowed!"  Boo.)  But, Zachary has been thrilled with his gym classes!  He loves his teacher and he thinks it's just too cool that he's finally in the gym himself!  Which reminds me!  Zachary is master of Roll the Ball!!  Nicholas always hated that game, but Zachary just loves to catch the ball, and then let it go to see it roll back to Mommy or Daddy! 

Zachary enjoyed watching the early snowfall from his highchair.  

He wasn't too pleased later in the day when we went outside to actually touch the inch of snow.

Sorry for all the Zachary and Nicholas comparisons, but I just can't resist!!  They're both just so very amazing and unique in their own special ways!!