7 Months Old Now

Storm is now 7 months old. This was another busy month in our lives, as we wrapped up our time in New York and traveled to Denmark. As I’m writing this from the quiet of my mom’s house in Denmark, our final days in New York already seem so far away and hazy, so we’ll have to make do with a quick picture-highlights section.

A friend came to visit us, and we all went sightseeing. Storm did pointedly NOT look at the Statue of Liberty. He is not a tourist, after all.

But no matter, there are so many other things to see on a boat.

Storm also went to his first Pride Parade, and got some pin-back buttons for his carrier.

Then he made time to visit Papa’s work and play with the Google Home Max. Paulus decided this was important for him to do, since I had decreed that we would NOT be buying one of these monsters for ourselves for our cross-Atlantic travel.

We went out for dinner in Midtown. Storm was intrigued by all the neon lights and skipped a nap .

We also went out for brunch, and Storm was a big boy who got offered a high chair. It came with the responsibility of choosing (from) the menu.

Got bored of the high chair and charmed the passersby through the window instead.

And because pictures can easily make it look so cute and idyllic (‘aw, look at that baby looking out the window while the family is brunching’), here’s a slightly more realistic picture of what happens when your baby gets bored with brunch, which is that someone leaves their hot food to go walk around with him to avoid a meltdown.

At home, Storm discovered better ways to use the furniture.

And helped us pack the suitcases.

Last NY household selfie from the rooftop.

 

We saw the pediatrician for Storm’s 6 month well-baby check up (8 kilos and 72 cm) and vaccinations before we left. Everything went well on the day itself, but in the evening after as well as the first half of the next day, Storm was clearly feeling off. Mostly, he didn’t really want to, or perhaps wasn’t able to, fall asleep. And in the morning after the visit, he cried for a couple of hours. I like how when you put it in words on the page like that, it doesn’t sound like a big deal ‘he cried for a couple of hours‘. Well, at the time, it WAS a big deal. I cried for most of that time, too, because it’s hard to watch your child struggle. Being held, lying down, sitting up, being carried, chewing toys, nothing would comfort Storm. Until I brought him to the fridge to look for his water-filled teether. Perhaps he had a fever, and the cold from the fridge felt soothing, because as soon as we sat in front of the open fridge, he calmed down. At first, I thought he was just done feeling yucky, so I got up to begin getting us ready for our plans for the day. But no, the fridge door hadn’t fully closed before the crying resumed. So we went back there, and just sat for a while and played with the condiments and the jars and bottles. And that seemed to do the trick. Eventually, we were able to get ready and leave the house. And now we’re done with vaccinations for several months.

But already the next big thing to disrupt Storm’s routine was on the horizon. At the beginning of July, we packed up all our stuff and headed to Denmark. This was Storm’s first overnight flight.  We had intentionally planned it so that we would only have 6 hours of flight time, a short transfer, and then a final short flight. This was so that Storm wouldn’t have to be stuck on our laps for too long, which was something he didn’t enjoy on our recent California trip. But the overnight thing took its toll on all of us. Although Storm slept for most of the flight after they turned the lights off, it still amounted to significantly less sleep than he normally gets. And neither Paulus nor I were able to sleep at all on the first part of the journey. But after the transfer, we all collapsed.

Some of us collapse more flatteringly than others.

And then we were in Denmark. Where the cars are so small that they won’t fit all the luggage from a world traveling family.  But we were also in a rural part of the country where everyone has trailers. So it all worked out.

And now, here we are.

For a few days, Storm had a jet-lag. It was great (and that, I’m sure, will be the last time I ever use that word to describe jet-lag), because he just slept all the time. Like, he’d be awake for an hour, and then need another nap. And in between, he was in a good mood. Within a couple of days, we were all recovered.

And now we’re living in my mom’s house for a while, where there are new people to get to know and love, new walks to be walked, new toys to be played with (And oh, are there toys! Thanks to everyone who gifted us things!), and new waters to be splashed in.

Blurry evening-walk-selfie

New bathtub

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One of the many new toys graciously gifted to Storm by our friends and family. 

 

There’s no shortage of snacks at Mormor’s house.

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Storm has been swimming and splashing in the little splash pool every day since we arrived

The evenings are long and light in this part of the world at this time of year

 

We took a day-trip to Jels Sø to enjoy the exceptionally good summer weather. Normally, it rains in Denmark in July, so this summer has been a bit of a surprise.

Storm enjoyed watching the ducks at the lake

And to splash in the water with Mormor

oh, happy day!

And he wore his sun hat for the first time

And there were snacks

And then we all got sick. First Storm, then I, then Mormor came down with the cold. I don’t know how Paulus escaped. This was Storm’s first experience of being ill. He handled it well, I think, although his stuffy nose made it hard to latch on and nurse, and he would frequently bite me in an effort to stay latched. So we’re working though that as we’re starting to feel better.

Other than that, we’re back to our usual routine of working, playing, eating and sleeping.

Hanging out with Mormor, one sock style, while the parents work.

Morfar’s nose must be grabbed

Storm used to play this silly game with our friend in New York. We brought it with us, and it continues to be a great hit.

Storm has continued to work on his motor skills this month. He is now able to sit up unassisted for longer stretches. We can’t let him sit unattended, though, because he will still lean backwards without warning and loose his balance. But perhaps next month, we’ll get there.

He is not crawling yet, but he is able to inch forward when he’s on his belly on the floor, by pushing off with his feet.

And he still loves rolling around in bed. This is great fun in the morning, but less so at night when he’s so tired he can barely keep his eyes open, but still absolutely HAS TO ROLL, must keep rolling! We’ve had to add an hour of awake time before attempting to put him to bed because otherwise he just rolls around for an hour while we all, including himself, get more and more frustrated. But most of the time, rolling is fun.

I wrote in a previous post about Storm’s introduction to solid foods. Today, I’ll treat you to a video of what it currently looks like when Storm sees someone consuming something, anything, while he has nothing. So far, he’s happy to sip water while we have coffee, and to munch on blueberries while I eat chips, as long as he has something. But people have told us this won’t last…

Finally, Storm has added to his sound inventory this month. People, we have an alveolar stop! So now, we get ‘deh deh deh’ and ‘dah dah dah’ in addition to the bilabials. Oh, the combinatorial possibilities!

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That’s it for now. Tune in again for the next monthly update, where we will once again have moved to a different country

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