The Harvey Family: Blake

In home improvement news, we had new windows installed in Blake's room so now we won't have to worry about the school bus waking him up in the mornings or the loud neighbors outside his bedroom in the evenings. Also, it should help keep his room a more consistent temperature since we're constantly battling to keep it in a 4 degree range.

This week, Blake:

has started making progress with crawling except it's more of an army crawl right now. He just needs the right motivation to get where he needs to go. Electronics are the most motivating items right now... toys and books can wait until they're within an arms reach.
has been talking up a storm! Baby babble can be heard from all corners of the house and it's such a great sound! His talking has tone to it, like when he's frustrated it gets loud and mad sounding. When he's content it is very sing-songy. <3
has noticeably more hair... enough to actually brush in a direction to make him look even more adorable or enough to make him have bed head if I just leave it. It's also taking on a very copper tone which we've seen for a while, but it's even more apparent now.
still loves his books and is really getting into the touch and feel ones. He feels the textures with his fingernails mostly and even scratches at the books that don't have textures... just to see what they feel like.
took a walk in his new stroller every morning except the day that it rained and he still LOVES it. He is so relaxed outside and this cooler weather is perfect for him since he seems to be comfortable with one less layer of clothing than I have on... even though the hospital tells you that babies need one more layer than what you're wearing. At least I have him around to keep me warm!
can stand a lot longer while holding onto something. He's even starting to move his feet when he starts leaning so maybe he'll be cruising soon too. He still can't seem to pull himself up onto the furniture without help though. He did it once last week and that was because he REALLY wanted to play with my cell phone.
went to the park on Monday for a playdate and got to sit in a swing for the first time. He thought it was really fun but was still too unsure about the whole thing to relax and sit back. We went back to the park on Friday to try out the swing again but he was a little too tired to enjoy it as much.
started a new nighttime routine as part of the sleep training. Instead of nursing him for his last meal of the night, we've been feeding him a bottle. That way he stops associating nursing with sleep like he has been doing for a while now. The plan has been to feed him a bottle, read a couple books, and sing a couple songs, then put him down and let him fall asleep on his own. He's been sleeping with us since his ear infection so we've kept him with us for Phase 1 of the training. The first night it took him about 15 minutes to settle after some talking and rolling around and playing with covers. The second night, down to 10, and then by the end of the week it only took about 5. He's definitely capable of doing it, and even without tears. Now, if we can get him to do the same thing in his crib and for naptime... that will be a big next couple steps.
started looking up a lot more. At first I thought it was just something to keep himself from falling asleep when I walked him around to settle him before his nap (he'll look up and shake his head like "no, no, don't fall asleep"), but it seems like he's been doing it in many places. For the past while, he had been really interested in looking down at the ground and now he's onto the ceiling again. It used to be ceiling fans when he was really little, now he looks up at everything.