6 Months Old!

My little man turned 6 months old yesterday! Every day, he's less my little baby and more my little boy!

Stats from yesterday:

Weight: 17lb, 11oz, putting him in the 50th percentile
Length: 27.25" (I guess the 4 month measurement wasn't very accurate because they measured twice yesterday and I'm pretty sure he didn't shrink). This puts him between 75-90 percentile for height.

Loves: Daddy, mommy, doggy, Sophie, music, and his jumperoo.
Dislikes: Not many, these days.

Skills: Rolling over--he goes everywhere. Some tripod sitting. Using his hands cooperatively. Putting.EVERYTHING.in.his.mouth!! Facial recognition. Reaching for things, whether they're next to him, above him, or below him. It's so cute. He wants something, and he just reaches out and gets it. It's so cool to watch his mind at work.

My favorite new skill: KISSES! He of course doesn't kiss like a grownup does, but he opens his mouth and presses it against my face. He doesn't suck or gnaw--just holds his wet little mouth there for a moment. And 90% of the time, he only does it for me which I sort of secretly love since he is a daddy's boy in so many other ways. It makes my heart melt. Today, he did it 30 times (not that I'm counting...yes, I totally AM counting!) It's our special little time! I would be perfectly content if he never learned to kiss the "real" way because I love these wet, slobbery kisses! I think it's him responding to all the kissy-face I've played with him. It makes me so very happy. At this moment, it truly is my favorite thing in the world. I wish I could bottle it up and keep it forever. Some of my books say that this usually comes out around 12 months, so I'm just tickled pink that I get it 6 months early, and hopefully for 6 months longer than I otherwise would, so long as he doesn't learn "real" kisses early too.

Working on: The baby inch-worm boot scoot boogy. Every now and then he looks like he's interested in the army crawl, but he tends to arch his back so that both his head and feet are in the air. With only his belly on the ground, he doesn't go far...or anywhere, really. However, he also arches his back when he's ON his back, so then his head and heels are on the ground. He will arch his back severely enough that the top of his head is on the ground. Then he'll push off his heels and scoot up until the back of his head is flat on the ground again. It's really funny. He doesn't do it a lot because he's figured out that rolling gets him where he wants to go faster, but he does do it some. It's really cute, as goofy as it is.

Current disposition: Well, excluding today (he was CRABBY today), he's generally very good tempered, even when he's sick. The challenge is that he's getting more active and more opinionated, so he grows impatient more quickly, but so long as he's able to keep busy, he's happy. Gone are the days of snuggling with mommy--he's my busy little bee!

His other big news is that we started solid foods this week.

His first food was avocado. I really wanted to introduce him to several vegetables first. I know avocado is not in the Gerber "first foods" but it's so, so, SO good for you and I figured that it's texture is easy and flavor mild enough that later on, I could mix it with other things to get some healthy oils in him. His first few bites, he just looked confused. Sort of like, "What is this? Why did you give this to me?" And then:


He is so, so, SO expressive. There is rarely a moment when you don't know what my little man is thinking, as evidenced by that picture. :D

I'm choosing to make a lot of Matthew's food. Isn't it pretty? I find a lot of enjoyment in buying the food, preparing it for him, and freezing it. We're doing jarred things too, especially foods that are on the "dirty dozen" list that are hard or expensive to come by organically. Apples are pretty easy to get organically. Pears, not so much, at least around here.

From left to right: red apples, yellow apples, grapes, green beans, blueberries. Aren't they pretty? We had registered for these food prep storage trays and I love them! They make 2oz portions, they have a lid, the frozen food pops out really easily, and they're very easy to clean! The product is a little pricey, but if you can find it on sale, we think it's worth the investment!

So, he had avocado for a few days, and then we introduced him to green beans. Those went over even less well than the avocado. But now, after he's had both for a couple of days, today he ate both enthusiastically. Tomorrow he gets sweet potatoes, then on to carrots, and then we'll introduce some fruits. We're only giving him 1-2 ounces of solid food as I still wish for most of his nutrition to come from breast milk. But, even though it's just a little part of his day, we are enjoying it!

The other huge news is that he is FINALLY sleeping through the night. He went from 2-3 hour stints, to now he sleeps 8:00pm to around 4:30am pretty consistently. Then he eats until about 5:00 am and then sleeps again until between 8:30 and 9:00. I am so very, very grateful. The balance now is making sure *I* go to bed early enough to take good advantage of that first long stretch. It's tempting to stay up late in the evening to do my chores, or even to just hang out with DH, so I'm trying to make sure I'm good about my bedtime, now that we have a good one for him.

I don't have any six month pictures of him yet. Yesterday we didn't have time, and today, he was super crabby all day. All 4 of us (Lewis included) slept in late and took 2 naps today so I guess we all needed the extra sleep. Hoping to get some pictures tomorrow and then I'll take him to Penney's one day next week for some professional pictures. I love my $3.99 coupon.

We're hoping to get back to church in the morning. Baby was sick for almost 3 weeks so neither he nor I have been in as many weeks. He seems to be better but then again, he was so out of sorts today that we'll just have to wait and see what the morning brings.

Off to enjoy a quiet evening with my hubby.

Love to you all!