HALF A YEAR OLD!

We can hardly believe our little guy is already half a year old! He is growing so fast and becoming such a fun, sociable baby. You can even see from these pictures how much he has changed over the last month or so. His hair is the most obvious indicator. It has almost all fallen out and is coming back pretty blonde.

Here are the 6 month updates:

• Weighs 18 lbs, 6.5 oz (75th percentile); 27 inches long (55th percentile); head circumference 43 1/2 (50th percentile)
• Wears 6 month or 6-9 month sizes
• Still in size 2-3 diapers
• Roly Poly! He rolls from side to side with legs drawn up and toys in his mouth. Also rolls from tummy to back and back to tummy, but prefers to play on his back. When I go in to check on him after he is asleep I often find him sideways or 180 degrees from the way I put him down! Thank goodness his crib is a safe place since he is such a wiggle worm!
• VERY close to sitting up totally on his own. Loves to sit inside the Boppy and practice on his own.
• Reaches to grab toys near him that catch his eye.
• Seems to know when 2 hands are needed to pick up heavier toys vs one hand.
• Still loves his jumperoo and now brings legs up and down when sitting in it. Still not quite jumping, but definitely moving around much more.
• Leans towards those he wants to hold him when being held by someone else.
• He does this cute thing where he "shakes" with excitement when lying on his back if he sees someone he knows or is very happy. He straightens his legs and arms and does this little shake. It's very funny.
• Still drooling all the time and our pediatrician could tell his gums were swollen, but no teeth yet.
• Cereal: take 2. I had stopped the cereal for a while because his little system was just not handling it well. I switched to single grain oatmeal which is much less binding than the whole grain, brown rice I had first tried. He had been watching us eat with such interest that I knew at about 6 months, it was time to try it again. He is doing SO well! He opens his mouth when I say, "bite?", and enjoys most of what we have tired so far: sweet potatoes, prunes to cleanse the system, pears, and bananas. Will be adding carrots, winter squash, and apples very soon.
• Puts himself to sleep at naptime and bedtime, but must have his blankie to do so. He is so funny with his blankie. He wants to snuggle with it and likes to sleep with it covering his entire face. Once I got over the initial horror of this and pulled it away from his mouth and nose regularly, I realized I continued to find it back where it was, across his entire face. So I still check on him, but let him sleep the way he wants. Also, he often talks himself to sleep or will wake up talking to himself. It is so cute to hear him through the monitor! Unfortunately he's still waking up couple times a night because he has trained himself to eat at night and hardly eat at all during the day. We got a good pep talk from the pediatrician about how to go about changing this behavior and so will be working on weaning the night eating. Hopefully it goes well and we will have a "success" post for you to view soon!

Here are some of our favorite pics from the last month:

Notice the hair in this picture...now watch it disappear....

This is one of my all time favorite pictures. How cute are my 2 boys?!

Practicing his sitting up skills!

This one gives you an idea of how big he is.

Reading already?

In his new high chair.

Cereal: take 2.

Messy, but not bad!

Now that our live-in help is gone (Grammie), we needed a solution to keep Luke occupied while we get around in the morning. Enter the doorway jumper. This was Allen's brilliant idea since he is too fidgety to just be left on the bed. We put it in the doorway between our bedroom and bathroom and it does the job!

He started out under the playgym and you can see where he ended up.

The next formal check-up is not until 9 months. So while we will continue to post our monthly updates, we will have to do our own measurements. Can't wait to see what the next month brings!