Seven Months

This month was mostly consumed by introducing solids and face rashes. We do not believe that the two are related.

Here is a point that mildly confuses me and is not helped by my tendency to post these updates months after they happen: This "Seven Months" post is meant for the day she turned seven months old, but includes a reflection on all the things that happened while she was six months old which is her seventh month. Like how Jane Austen is a 19th century writer but I always want to say she's an 18th century writer because it was the 1800s. And how Hazel was 16 during her 17th winter. That's mostly to note that we started solids at six months, if you're interested in the debate on when to introduce solids.

Solids have been a lot of fun. I was kind of sad to introduce them because, despite those early weeks of being so eager to no longer be the sole source of nutrition, I was getting bummed about no longer being the sole source of nutrition. (I do this at bedtime too. I can't wait for bedtime and once it's here I just want to hold her longer. It's pathetic. And confusing.) She loves to play and smush food around and put it in her mouth and spit it back out. We're doing baby-led weaning which we think is really awesome. It's made some pretty big messes at this point, but Elizabeth loves to feed herself. She seems to have mixed feelings about bananas, but avocado, cucumber and carrots are popular.

She healed super quickly from her fall and for safety's sake, this month's photo session had a spotter. (Thanks Aunt Laura!) We never had to get her the prescription pain medicine and in a week or so she was back to rolling around like nothing ever happened. We did make some extra trips to the pediatrician though for her face. It was red and irritated (normal-ish) but then got scabby and leaky (not normal). One cheek got mildly infected so she was on antibiotics for a week -- which was not fun to deliver -- but still continued to have some problems. The pediatrician thinks it just got dry from drool and winter and she kept scratching it which kept it from healing. She's currently on a steroid cream and also getting lots of Aquaphor and coconut oil. It's finally starting to look better.

This is probably one of our favorite photos of her at this point. Lee took it because I won't let her get that close to my laptop. Is she taking after her mom or dad? Depends on if she's looking at Pinterest or Battlefield 3.