Graeme,
It seems like just last week I was writing to my 5 month old baby. Yesterday, we celebrated your half birthday… You are 6 months old!
Every month holds new experiences and new milestones for you and buddy, you’re flying through them! You’re sitting up all on your own and love to play with toys on the floor. Everything goes into your mouth so we think you’ll be cutting teeth soon! Tummy time consists of 2 seconds on your tummy before you roll over onto your back. You rolled from your back to tummy a week or so ago but haven’t spend much time on your back since (always sitting up!) so you haven’t done it again. You have, however, gotten yourself from the sitting up position to the crawling position a few times but for right now, that ends in a face plant. Don’t worry bud, you’ll get there!
You suck on your thumb, fingers, and toes whenever you aren’t gumming on a toy – it’s adorable but leaves you rather slobbery! You still enjoy stroller rides and are getting better with car rides every single day. In a couple weeks we’ll be driving an hour and a half to a gathering so that will be the real test! You’re great at being carried in the mei tei carrier though! I wrap you and I in it and we do our shopping. You spent an hour and a half in it last week when we attended BBQ on the River! Speaking of which, I think it overstimulated you a tad… you were kind of zoned out the entire time!
A couple weeks ago we put you in your highchair, just to get you acclimated, and you love it! Before last night, you just played while we ate. But last night, oh last night! You ate your first “solid”: sweet potatoes! Me, your dad, Nana, Granddaddy, Papaw, and your great grandma all sat around the table and watched you eat over a tablespoon of homemade pureed sweet potato, mixed with none other than my breastmilk! And you LOVED IT! Way more than any of us every thought you would!! We recorded it for Mimi since she couldn’t be here but I’m sure we’ll be showing everyone we come in contact with! And because we waited until you were 6 months old, you didn’t make much of a mess at all. You got the tongue thrust thing down! I can’t wait to make more yummy foods for you!
You’re reaching for people you know really well… just this week you started showing favoritism toward me and your dad when with other people. It’s about that time :/ We’ve been pretty good about introducing you to other family members and friends but it looks like we’re going to have to start doing it even more. I think more outings will do the trick! Your favorite person to play with is your dad, which is great because your dad’s favorite person to play with is you! He can’t wait for you to start walking so you’re getting a lot of practice – he “walks” you all over the house!
Last month we transitioned you from your rock’n’play, which you did so well in, to your crib. We did this because you are getting so long, you’ve almost outgrown the rock’n’play; you are starting to roll from back to tummy, in which you would end up rolling out of the rock’n’play and onto the floor, and because we’re going to start transitioning you out of the swaddle wrap… one of the these days. I’ve tried several times to get you to nap on your back without being swaddled (you wake up after a couple minutes and can’t get yourself back to sleep) and to get you to sleep on your tummy at night (doesn’t last longer than 3 hours). The transition from the rock’n’play to the crib, however, was extremely easy!
On the subject of sleeping, you’re trying to phase out your fourth nap of the day but neither your dad and me or you can quite figure out HOW to do it. The past week it’s been a struggle. You’ll either not take the last nap, stay awake 4 hours, and then fall asleep during your bedtime feeding, which means you wake up three hours later STARVING. Or you take your fourth nap and we don’t go to bed until 11pm and you don’t wake up the next morning until 9am. Because of all the inconsistency, you’re waking up two to three times a night instead of just once. I miss those nights.
The weather is turning cooler so we’ve started putting pants on you during the day, which makes you look like such a big boy! You were such a big boy yesterday during your 6 month shots… FOUR sticks! Three infant immunizations and one flu vaccine. Of course, you cried for a few seconds but as soon as you latched on, you nursed your pain and fears away and slipped into a short nap. You awoke moments later and was completely content for the rest of the day. I’m so proud of my big boy!
