Scooter

Bennett turned 7 months last week – he’s getting to be so old! It is fun to watch him learn and grow. He’s had a few exciting developments in the last month. He now has almost 4 teeth. The top two are about halfway in, and the bottom two are poking through the gums but not sticking out too far yet. He did pretty well with the teething, especially since all 4 were coming in around the same time.

At his 6 mo. dr. appointment, he weighed 15 lbs 1 oz – 7th percentile, and supposedly was 29 inches long (98th). Nate and I were both at the appointment though, and thought the measurements were pretty inaccurate. I did my own measurement and he’s right around 28 inches – so still in the 90th percentile, but not quite as tall as they thought. Since his weight was on the low end, we have been trying to help him learn to eat solids better. He was doing a little better last week, and tonight, after over a month of trying, I finally felt like we had some significant success. After swallowing some applesauce, he would actually opened his mouth lean forward to take the next bite! Usually he turns his head away and closes his mouth as hard as he can, and the few times we have been able to get him to eat a little bit it was by making silly faces and noises to get him to laugh / smile and open his mouth (then we’d sneak some food in).

He has also started scooting. He’s been able to move around by rolling for over a month, and for a while he would reach with one hand, then reach with the other, and eventually move forward a couple inches. Last week he started pushing with his elbows and feet, and the past few days he’s gotten pretty good at it. I got a little video of him today – it’s at the bottom (don’t worry, it’s short :) As you can see in the video above, he gets stuck sometimes.

Bennett’s also getting really good at playing with toys to entertain himself. I think since he can move around more, he is able to go look at different things and not get bored. He likes to grip things and pass them back and forth or hold something in each hand. It’s so fun to see him explore the world around him and learn new things. The picture below shows what he’s been doing a lot of lately since his teeth started coming in – sucking / biting on his fingers.

Labor Day

was a week & a day ago, but since I’m always behind on my posts, I thought I’d continue the trend. Anyway, on Saturday, we went up to Antelope Island (an island in the middle of the Great Salt Lake) for the Hot Air Balloon and Kite Festival. We saw some buffaloes just off the side of the road on the way in, but didn’t get to see any antelope. Nate and I got up ridiculously early so we could be there for the hot air balloon launch, but unfortunately there was too much wind, so they weren’t able to take off. A little while later, they had 3 sky divers come land in the middle of the field, which was cool to watch. It’s amazing how precise they are when they’re coming that far down, and that fast. We hung around for a little while waiting for the kite portion of the festival, and apparently there is some no-man’s-land with wind where there is too much for hot air balloons but too little for fancy kites. Finally, right as we were about to give up and leave, the wind picked up and they got some pretty neat kites in the air. They also started the “bull races”, where you’re attached to a mini parachute via a harness and race other people. That was actually pretty fun – Nate and I raced and he beat me, but at least I didn’t fall on the ground like the lady who went right before me :) Here are some pictures from the day.

 

watching the skydivers come down…and one of them jumping out of the plane

the skydiver carrying a flag…Bennett leaning over in the Bjorn…Bennett’s sunscreen mohawk

the circle kites and the gigantic octopus kite – I think they said it was 120 feet long!

the second picture is Nate and I running the bull races – it’s a little dark but hopefully you can see what we’re doing

 

all the kids on the fake buffalo, and part of the group with part of the island and the lake in the background

    

Nate re-inacting the Lion King

After the bull races and looking at the giant octopus kite, we went on a short walk up to the top of a bluff where we could see more of the island. We finished off the day with a trip to Crown Burger on our way back to Nate’s parents’ house – yum!

That evening, Nate and I watched the BYU game. We had reserved our neighborhood’s clubhouse because we don’t get ESPN at our house, and despite inviting about 15 other people, we ended up watching the game by ourselves. It was fun though – we brought our air mattress and blankets and dinner, and it was an awesome game (as I’m sure everyone knows by now). There were several times when Nate was holding Bennett and he got a little too loud when he was excited about the game, and Bennett started screaming. We decided Bennett needs to hang out with me during future football games (although there was one point when I even made him a little nervous).

Monday was pretty low-key. Nate worked on his essays for grad school applications most of the day, then we went up American Fork canyon in the evening with some friends and had tin foil dinners. It’s nice to live so close to the canyon and have a chance to get away for a little bit – it’s really pretty up there any time of year.