Beck 7 months

We've turned a corner. Beck is now closer to being ONE than to being a newborn. NOOOOO!!!

This month he tried all sorts of new stuff. He rode in a cart all by himself like a big boy! He had his first overnight with MimiHe got his first "spanking" (not so fun). He pulled up for the first time! He went on the potty for the first time (yep, you read that right!). He got his first haircut by Momma (4th haircut)! And he went the FALL FESTIVAL for the first time!!!

Beck's first week atFall Festival was a hit! We went every day for lunch with friends or Daddy. Beck slept through his pic with besties, Mason and Reed. One night we stopped in again for some after-dinner-dessert with the whole fam. Beck tried sneaking in a bite of Brooklyn's fried Oreos! On Friday, we worked in the Bethel booth, so Beck went to the Fall Festival with Mimi, Uncle Josh, Aunt Car, and Lainey Bug.

Beck and bestie, Mason, hung out on Scary Movie Night while we roasted hot dogs and s'mores with friends. Mimi got him a skeleton outfit for Halloween.

He is just getting so big! He is too heavy to carry in his car seat now, so he gets to ride in the cart at the store. He loves to look around and it keeps him occupied, as long as Momma doesn't stop too long to look!

He loves to help out with the laundry. It was in his laundry basket that I first discovered he could pull up. Yikes!

Beck's favorite place is on the kitchen counter in his Bumbo. He has his own bowl of utensils, toys, and random kitchen things, that he gets to play with while Momma works in the kitchen, which amazingly is 75% of the day.

Our pastor has decided to begin planting churches around the tri-state where they're needed. The first place was in Henderson, KY. They were in need of volunteers to help get the building ready in time for the opening on 10.10.10. One night our small group worked for several hours until late at night, so Beck stayed overnight with Mimi. She fed him his last feeding and I was there in the morning when he woke up to feed him his first feeding. He slept through the night without a peep! And Mimi was at his crib in the morning to take pics of him waking up for the first sleepover!

Well I didn't think the issue of discipline would come up until he was at least one, but here we are. We've suspected for a while that Beck has a temper, but now he has decided that if Momma isn't holding him or in the same room as him, he's gonna throw a fit. So after getting advice from friends and several books ("To Train Up a Child", "Shepherding a Child's Heart", "No Greater Joy", and "Baby Wise II") we came up with a plan to help the little guy. Here's the plan: When he starts to cry because I won't hold him or leave the room, flick him on the hand, tell him "no", and don't pick him up until he stops crying. The crying usually lasts for 20-30 minutes, so every few minutes I remind him by flicking and telling him "no". Once he has calmed down, I pick him up, tell him "good boy", give him lots of hugs for a few minutes, then put him back down. Usually he whines a little at first, but he has figured out the point, and become very tired by this point, so he is compliant. In general, I try to pick him up and tell him "good boy" throughout the day when he isn't crying so he knows that is the good behavior, instead of only picking him up when he starts to cry, like I used to do. I've learned I created the problem, so it is just as much training for me as it is for him. I've also learned it's a lot easier to train than retrain, so in other areas I'm trying to start off right, like not letting him play with things that aren't age appropriate, such as the remote, my cell phone, or magazines.

I've learned a lot from the books; stuff I didn't think would apply to a child so young, but if you train them to do the right thing, when they're old enough to know right from wrong, they've already been trained to do right when they get old enough to make the decision. Genius, I thought. These books are also where I learned you can train a child to be potty trained by 3 months. Insane. Basically we train kids to potty in their diaper for about 2 years. Then one day we ask them to sit on a cold, hard, uncomfortable surface to potty. Hmmm which would you choose? Warm, comfy diaper or cold, hard toilet? So this lady, Debi Pearl, suggests that if you train them to go on the potty at 3 months, by the time they're ready to walk, they'll take themselves to the potty. Well I'm not ready for that commitment, because of laziness and selfishness for my time... but I did find one time when it made sense to try it, just for fun! Beck always goes pee once I put him in the bath and start the water, so now I set him on the potty, run water down his belly and turn the water on. He goes pee pee in the potty before bath now! Daddy was so proud he bought Beck his own big boy potty and surprised him with it after work one day.

Coming Soon: We will start feeding him cereal this month! Another bittersweet milestone, but it should be fun to watch! We have also decided he should be Elvis for Halloween since so many people say he looks like Elvis (it must be the hair!). I wanted to make his first costume special by making it. Can't wait to see it all come together!