Ian at Seven & Eight Months Old!

Erk, I am getting quite inconsistent with my reports on Ian - a mistake I vowed never to make again after realising the number of milestones I missed in my failure to blog about Aiden's first year.

But at least with this age of smartphones, I am able to make short notes about Ian whenever I remember (usually before I sleep at night), take lots of photos and videos and then use these to check back his milestones during that particular month for the blog post.

So, here's a recap of Ian when he was seven months old. And wow oh wow, it was certainly a MAJOR month for Ian's milestone. Just a week after turning 7 months old, he finally mastered the art of sitting. He was constantly on his fours (like pumping) and would use his knees to rock his body and butt back and forth. Sometimes he would lose his balance and would fall flat on his stomach or sometimes even on his face! *ouch*

Ian practicing his "push ups" with his friend Ozil, who was born just a month after him. Tired from all the exercise, they both collapsed together into each other's arms. Ultimate cute-ness!

Wearing Daddy's kopiah with a big wide smile!

After just a week of practicing, he figured out how to use his upper body to twist his torso into a sitting position. Funny, even though this is my second child, I simply couldn't imagine how babies are able to twist their body to sit - so when Ian managed to do that, especially in just a span of one week, I was really quite amazed! And lo and behold, once Ian mastered that, he was no longer satisfied with just lying down. He wanted to sit up all the time.

Remember the trip to JB that I had at the end of Ian's seven-month journey? On the way home from the airport - Hubby called and gave me the great news, Ian took his first few crawls! So during Eid, Ian was happily practicing his crawling skills around his moyang's house at Hubby's kampung. By the end of the month, his crawling was quite steady.

At his moyang's house in Teluk Intan.

And after mastering the art of crawling, he closed his seventh month by trying to pull himself up! Although I must admit - with not much success the first few days. I was so scared during this period. Falling on your face when you're in push up position, and falling on your face when you're attempting to stand, are two completely different circumstances!

We also found him testing his standing skills in the playpen! Different from Aiden, when he stands up in his playpen, he is not afraid to let go. He simply releases his grip to the playpen and let his body fall, bum down. Worried that he would next try to climb out, we decided to remove the upper level of the playpen, hence Ian has now graduated into the lower level of the playpen.

"Mummy, you can't make me stay still anymore - I am going to try and sit now!"

"Check out my push up position!"

*crawl crawl crawl* ... and in a blink of an eye he's in a sitting position. Andddd tried to stand too! Check out his cheeky face when I reprimanded him

Found him trying to stand using the Ikea box table, and check out his muka tak puas hati when I dragged him away. Dangerous-lah, baby!

Ian is also able to hold his own milk bottle. Unfortunately, he still hasn't figured out how to tilt the bottle. So at a certain point when he holds the bottle horizontally, there isn't enough milk to fill the teat so we have to help hold it up. Sometimes when he's not too hungry, he'll hold his bottle but then immediately release it so that he can gnaw on the bottom of the bottle!

Cried his eyes out when we refused to take him out of the playpen (still in the upper level in this picture). And then some milk to calm himself down.

Moving on, here's a recap of Ian when he was eight months old.

With his new found ability to crawl, his entire eighth month was mainly dominated by him taking it to the next level, i.e. using his upper body strength to pull himself up standing! He would crawl to the couch, the tv panel, the coffee table or even the small ledge off the u-shape window and use that to help himself stand, similar to rock climbing! Unfortunately he still hadn't figured out that the curtain isn't stable so whenever he uses the curtain to pull himself up, he ends up swaying off the curtain like George of the Jungle, then losing his balance and crashing on the floor.

As for crawling, he can crawl sooooo fast! One minute we leave him in the middle of the living room, the next minute he's already at the edge of the living room, heading towards the dining hall! You can't even leave the front door open because in a split second he would have arrived at the door, trying to crawl outside the house!

With all the crawling and standing he has been doing, he has been shedding so much weight, the chubby cheeks are practically gone! Even his thighs have slimmed down. *sigh* I am the one who needs to lose weight, not you, baby!

At the start of his eight month - chubby cheeks still there.

By the end of his eighth month - no more chubby cheeks!

When he wakes up from a nap, he would immediately turn over, sit and if there isn't any one in sight, he would crawl while crying. No such thing as crying while lying down, so we never put him for his day naps on the bed in fear that he would crawl off the bed! In the morning, if he is sleeping on our bed and we hear him crying, we would immediately run upstairs because he crawls first before crying hence he is usually already at the edge of the bed. Once, the maid hid herself and peeked to see where he would crawl to. Yup, as expected, he even knew where to crawl to find the maid. Crying with tears pouring down his cheeks, he crawled towards the kitchen!

Had his first (and second) bump this month. First bump was caused by him losing his balance at the TV panel and knocking his forehead on the drawer (which he also pulled open). Now we have taped down the drawers and the Astro decoder. Currently checking out safety gates before he starts to explore the stairs! Second bump was caused by the maid - she accidentally knocked Ian's forehead on the garden wall!! *sigh*. Poor Ian also had his first fall off the bed that same day. Boys will always be boys!

First bump!

Loves flapping his hands when excited! Soooo adorable! And on the rare occasions that he gets to sit with me in the car (free from his car seat which he absolutely hates nowadays), he would stretch his hands out and touch anything and everything! Even in the house, I had to clear out all my small and dainty decorations and photo frames in the living room too - giving it the minimalist look! Ian kept knocking down everything his small fingers could reach.

Even Aiden cannot control his brother when he's on a roll!

My two boys.

He knows how to indicate that he has soiled his diapers. In a sitting position, he would rock himself front and back, sometimes even flapping his hands. The first time he did it, I didn't really get it. I caught a whiff of the stinky smell and changed his diapers. But the maid told me the same story, but she thought he was being bitten by ants or something. Then she checked his diapers and found a small amount of poop (which didn't even smell!) but it must have made him uncomfortable! At the end of his eighth month journey, he had diarrhea for one week straight. Since it doesn't seem to particularly bother him, some people say it's just a sign nak naik bulan.

Change my diapers, please! I'll reward you with a hugeee smile!

Loves to teeth on me. And by teething on me, I mean gnawing on my cheek or jaw bones. Sometimes when we are not looking, he would even bite his car seat handle! Unfortunately, no sign of any teeth anywhere and if he's taking after Abang Aiden, it would be another 3 months before he starts sprouting any. He still loves to put anything and everything in his mouth though. I wonder when that phase will end!

Posing with Dafiya. Or rather Dafiya was posing - Ian was simply more interested on chewing Dafiya's toys!

Loves desserts. And I say this because his favourite food are pear and also pumpkin with potato. Which are all sweet, hence he must have a sweet tooth! (Loves kuih bakar, chocolate chip cookies and macarons - erm you didn't read this here!) When we try to feed him with porridge, he'll eat but we sometimes have to trick him to open his mouth by showing him his water bottle (cos he loves water!) but when he opens his mouth, we shove a spoonful of porridge in! Likes eating bread but unlike with the baby bites, he hates holding the bread himself. So we have to actually tear it into small pieces and feed him piece by piece.

"I have a sweet tooth, Mummy! Although I don't have any teeth!" *grin*

Definitely right-handed. Everytime we pass him something (biscuits, toys etc.), he would always take it with his right hand.

No smile, Ian?

His hair is growing quite nicely, except for a half bald spot just at the nape of his neck. I hope he inherits my thick mane. 

After mastering crawling and standing - he has even started cruising. He can slowly "walk" from one end of the couch to the other. Mobility is definitely not a problem for him anymore. When standing, he also knows how to bend his knees to get into a sitting position, sometimes even extending his hand out to cushion the fall - so no more hard landings on his bum. Also, he is stable enough to sit unsupported in restaurant baby chairs and even shopping carts. So grocery shopping and even eating out are a breeze nowadays as he's either amazed by the sight of the supermarket, or busy eating his own food in the baby chair while we enjoy our meals.

Taking in the new surroundings of the supermarket - hence the serious face.

Last but not least, just a week before he turned 9months old, he managed to crawl up the stairs. Great leg and hand coordination too, as the maid reported that he climbed the stairs all the way up to the master bedroom (with the maid guarding him from the back, hand ready at him bum, of course). The next day, I bought a safety gate! Now, the staircase and the kitchen are both barricaded. We also started babypoofing our house, even resorting to taping the drawers shut! Read my hilarious attempt to baby proof our old house for Aiden, here.

The safety gates. Get ready for some pro gate-leaping.

Exploring the safety gates.

And that brings us to the close of Ian's eighth month old journey. Happy nine months old, baby!

I am nine months!