The Life and Times of

THOMAS GODFREY MAGILL

Part One: The First Year

Chapter Nine: Seven Months Old

(click thumbnail to see larger picture) At the Office 07/29/2009 At the Office 07/29/2009 With Daddy 07/29/2009 On the Floor 08/01/2009 On the Floor 08/01/2009 I Fell Over 08/01/2009 I'm Nekkid 08/02/2009 Don't Tickle Me! 08/02/2009 On Mommy 08/02/2009 On Mommy 08/02/2009 Playing 08/02/2009 Playing 08/02/2009 Shirt on Head 08/04/2009 Shirt on Head 08/04/2009 With Mommom 08/04/2009 With Mommom 08/04/2009 Bottle Love 08/07/2009 Bottle Love 08/07/2009 The Jello Incident 08/08/2009 The Jello Incident 08/08/2009 The Jello Incident 08/08/2009 The Jello Incident 08/08/2009 The Jello Incident 08/08/2009 At Golden Corral 08/09/2009 Peach Cobbler! 08/09/2009 With Cousin Noah 08/09/2009 At the Movies 08/09/2009 Walking with Mommom 08/10/2009 Walking with Mommom 08/10/2009 Pickles 08/11/2009 Pickles 08/11/2009 Pickles 08/11/2009 Pickles 08/11/2009 Pickles 08/11/2009 Pickles 08/11/2009 Pickles 08/11/2009 Pickles 08/11/2009 Not Pickles 08/12/2009 Eating 08/12/2009 Mouthful 08/12/2009 Eating 08/12/2009 Water Fountain! 08/12/2009 Bathtime 08/12/2009

As Tommy entered the second half of his first year, he started interacting with the world in a more concrete way. He (and his Mommy) started going into the office with me upon occasion, where he made his first real attempts at crawling (though they failed). We also took him on an unwise trip to the movie theater, which was surprisingly and thankfully uneventful. A couple of weeks later, we took him to see Ice Age 3 with two of his cousins, and that also went well, though there was far less risk of offending the audience, which consisted of more crying kids than adults. But the biggest change in Tommy at this point was his ability to start playing with things. Sure, when he was younger, he'd touch and feel things, but his attention was never focused and his curiosity had been limited. However, at around the seven month mark, he'd start playing with things the way you expect a child to. He'd toss things around and giggle at them, move things around and pick them back up again, etc. The laughing was by far the most wonderful advancement. Not only did Tommy smile and coo, but he started laughing loudly and enthusiastically. Peek-a-boo, tickling, making faces, and sometimes just looking at him would cause all kinds of laughing, and none of us could get enough of it. He also started demanding a seat at the dinner table, rather than just sitting on a chair on the floor or off to the side. If we didn't have him in his high chair in a place where he could see everybody at the table, he'd let his voice be heard. Sometimes, though, just being at the table wasn't enough. He needed something more than just rings to play with, and that's how we discovered his love of pickles. Yes, our seven-month-old continued to show how different his taste buds were from mine. Not only did he love peas and sweet potatos (two things I can't stand), he also fell for dill pickles. At first, we thought he only liked them because they were cold and he was teething, but as time passed, it became apparent that, no, he did in fact love the sour vinegary taste of pickles. It was to become a staple for him alongside animal crackers and french fries (though that came later, of course).