Colin is 7 months old and growing up so fast!  He isn't crawling yet or moving himself into a sitting position, but he can pull himself from sitting to standing.  He doesn't generally roll much but rolls over in the crib all the time.  He HATES being on his tummy but every time I go and get him in the middle of the night because he's crying, he's pushed up on his hands and tummy.  He likes to sleep on his side so I guess he falls on his tummy in the night.(?)  Speaking of night, no real improvement in sleeping time.  He wakes up every 3 hours in the night (sometimes less).  He doesn't usually go back to sleep unless he nurses.  I wouldn't mind it if I could just take him into the bed with us and let him sleep there, but he is one of the strange babies that actually doesn't want to cosleep.  It seems he is unable to sleep soundly with the temptation to nurse nearby.  He says dadadada and often sounds like he is speaking the language of the squirrels in The Sword in the Stone.
 

The other new thing is elimination communication, something I'd heard about earlier but never thought I'd be crazy enough to try with Colin. [WARNING:  POOPY TALK]  So, Colin has started eating some purees- not much yet- but I am less comfortable with putting poopy diapers right in the wash.  Since Colin was a month or two old I have been able to tell when he needed to go and I made it a habit to help him poop in his diaper by holding up his knees so he's in a squatting position.  So I thought...why not just do that over the potty.  And it's been working.  For the last three weeks he's been going in the potty and we haven't had to prerinse cloth diapers.  There are people who would say this isn't pure EC since Colin is still in a diaper all the time and I make no attempt to get his pee in the potty as well, but I don't really care what you call it.  I call it less work for me!

Murphy is back in the cone of shame these days.  He keeps licking and chewing his paws until they are raw.  The vet says it's allergies.  He was on prednisone and then orthotricyclene...which seemed to be working for a few weeks, but now the licking is back so I'm looking for something else to try. This week I added fish oil into his diet, but that has made no difference to anything but his breath.  I'm also back to washing his feet every 2 or 3 days with special medicated shampoo.  Next up is revisiting the choice of dog food.  He's on a good quality one but maybe he's become sensitive to poultry or potatoes.  I'm willing to try just about anything to stop the crying out in pain and self-mutilation.  He's doing so well at agility too- very little zooming off and no growling at nearby dogs.  One of the instructors suggested we consider doing a show.  One thing at a time though...

Summer is coming and the pressure is on for me to get an interview for a teaching job.  I actually had to do one recorded interview over a webcam.  It was the strangest interview ever, I got 20 seconds to think about each question and one chance to record each answer in under three minutes and had to watch my awkward self on the screen as I did it.  I'm sure it's convenient for some but I'll take an in-person interview over that any day.  I love being home with Colin but I'll be glad to go back to the predictable schedule of a work day.  I'm the type of person that gets more done under stress, the type who accomplishes less when there is plenty of free time.

Our summer plans are a bit up in the air still.  Robert is going to be the chaplain at a children's camp for part of the summer, and also filling in as a supply priest.  We are talking about a trip to Alabama but that's not for sure.  We are also going to be getting a second car sometime soon.  It's really starting to feel like summer already.