7 months

Over the half-way hump.  Let's see, what's new to report.  We'll start with head and go to the toes.  Jack has been in his helmet for 7 weeks.  His neurosurgeon and orthotist are amazed at how much he has progressed in such a short time.  The average child needs to wear it 3-4 months.  He'll likely be out of it by 9 weeks.  His success is largely dependent on his rapidly growing noggin.  Off the charts.  And that is thanks to his father.  He has been amazing with the helmet- the whole ordeal has been much less of an ordeal than we could have imagined.  Jack now has two teeth!  And, he prefers to sink those teeth deep into anything he can fit in his mouth: toys, our fingers, sippy cups, etc.  Jack continues to babble to anyone who will listen.  He has perfected the da-da-da's (no mention yet of ma-ma-ma's, or even ba's or ga's).  He will also shriek from time to time.  Right now we think its funny.  I have a feeling we'll regret this soon.  Jack is an eating machine.  As previous posts suggest, he is getting the hang of feeding himself.  I'm not sure he could yet sustain himself on finger foods alone, but he is on his way.  So far a big fan of cut up mango, cantaloupe, asparagus, zucchini, bananas, black beans, pita bread, and carrots.  As of today, Jack has learned how to clap his hands.  Unfortunately we have not had much success with traditional crawling.  Instead, Jack has exploited his current situation and used his helmet as a mode of transportation.  Since he still hates being on his tummy, he will lay on his back and scoot on his helmet across the room.  His day care teachers have found him in various corners of the room after the wall has halted his scooting.  We're a little worried what he may do to his poor head once he's out of the helmet.  No worries with the lack of crawling, however, as we think he may skip straight to walking.  He supports weight great on his feet with assistance and is taking some great steps.  He has pulled himself up on the baby gate a couple of times and stood on his own.  We're so excited to see him stand, but know that the stress of him on the move is a whole new ball game!

Jack continues to be a very easy, social, and happy baby.  It's very easy to make him smile.  We've noticed, however he is not a terribly cuddly baby.  He's still an amazing sleeper and follows a pretty set routine of eating and sleeping during the day.  He's recently started paying a lot of attention to the dogs and cat, and the cat especially makes him laugh.  We're learning sign language (just milk, eat, daddy, mommy, cat and dog at this point).  And by learning, I mean mommy and daddy are making a lot of hand movements while Jack stares.