Six Months

A half of a year has gone by with our little boy and I am not quite sure how. Brock is SIX months old today! That is just craziness. But it's true so I'll get over my shock and finish writing this post. We went for the 6 month checkup today with Dr. Smith so I have Brock's official numbers this time. He weighs 19 pounds, 4 ounces putting him at about the 79th percentile (that's only about a pound more than he weighed last month so I'm glad he's slowing down a little bit and not becoming obese). And he is now 27.5 inches long, which is about the 83rd percentile. I never can remember his head circumference. I think it's because his baby book doesn't have a blank to fill in that information so I never consider it important and only retain the weight and length. But the doctor did say that his head is in the above average range so I'm assuming he's fine. He had to get four shots today instead of three and this was the first time Blaine wasn't able to go with us, so I had to be the bad guy and hold his arms down. I wonder if I will ever be able to avoid tearing up when he's getting his shots. I hope so because it will be embarassing for him when he's 16 years old getting a tetanus shot and his mom is sitting in the corner trying not to cry!

These are some of Brock's accomplishments and patterns during the period between the fifth and sixth months:

• At 22 weeks I started feeding him about 1/3 of the jar of stage one baby foods once a day (in the afternoon) for three days. I had read that it is suggested to introduce foods slowly and one at a time so you can make sure they don't have any reactions to them. So we started that way and introduced all the "orange/yellow" foods (squash, sweet potatoes, bananas, pears, etc) and then the "green" foods like peas and green beans.
• At 23 weeks he started eating solid foods 3 times a day after he nursed. He would have rice cereal and half a jar of fruit in morning, half a jar of vegetables and half a jar of fruit in the afternoon, and then another half of vegetables and fruit evening. Since the doctor had said he didn't need solid food until 6 months, I always nursed before we fed him solids instead of after because I wanted to make sure he got the right amount of milk, but now that he's 6 months he'll be eating solids first, then the milk.
• He had his first cold at 22 weeks which was pretty pitiful. It wasn't anything serious, just a runny nose with some coughing and congestion and a low fever. He was fussy and woke up a lot from his naps because of the coughing but he was still a pretty good sport about it. It was sweet to see him smile when he had snot running from his nose because I know smiling is the last thing I want to do when I am sick.
• While he was sick he didn't nurse very well because of the stuffy nose so I introduced him to the sippy cup that week just to get some more fluids in him. He really seemed to love it too as you can see here.
• He sleeps fine on his stomach now when he rolls onto it which is a big relief since it was disrupting his sleep so much. It only took him about a week to get used to staying asleep when he would roll over, but he still wasn't happy when he woke up on his stomach. This past week though (26 weeks) he's figured out how to roll from stomach to back so we're all good now.
• He likes standing up in my lap and using his legs, and he likes to grab everything. Nothing within his reach is safe these days because he wants to hold it and put it in his mouth. For example, books... when I'm reading him a story, he won't just sit in my lap and look at the pictures anymore. He wants to grab the pages and close the cover and put the corners in his mouth, and I get left in suspense about what the hungry caterpillar ate on Wednesday.
• He's gotten a lot more cuddly this month. He used to only like being held facing out with his back to your chest but occasionally he'll lay on us now and just kind of snuggle or burrow his head. A few times this month he even wanted to be rocked to sleep, which was previously unheard of because he would only go to sleep in his bed before. I'm trying not to turn that into a habit though because I want him to continue to be able to self-soothe.
• He likes sitting up now and will pull himself to sitting if you have him leaning back on you. He can also sit up with support, like on the couch or in a chair, but he still needs assistance for now.
• He smiles at just about everyone he meets. I love taking him to church because every new face he sees, he gives them a grin. He's a little charmer. Blaine said, "I think he gets all that smiling from me." To which I replied, "Don't I smile all the time too?" and Blaine said, "Oh... yeah... you smile." So now I'm worried that I look like a miserable wretch everywhere I go.
• If Brock is really tired in the evening, he gets giddy and delirious-acting and will laugh really hard at just about anything we do. It's pretty entertaining.
• As far as our schedule, he moved toward the four-hour eating schedule at about 24 weeks so now he takes about three naps a day and stays awake anywhere from an hour and 15 minutes to two hours (usually his awake times are shorter in the mornings and lengthen out toward the end of the day).
• We dropped the dreamfeed (the late evening feeding around 9:30 or 10 where he stays asleep) for good now. Sometime during the 24th week I went to feed him at that time and he woke up and started screaming at me, so I said alright, I guess it's time to let that feeding go. Once we dropped it, he started sleeping longer in the mornings too. So now he goes to bed around 7:30 or 8:00 and usually sleeps until 8:00 in the morning. That is heavenly for my Saturdays! (During the week I work from home and usually start at 5am so it really only makes a difference to me on Saturdays when I can sleep in).
• He's teething big time with lots of drool, crankiness, hand chewing, and early waking from naps. I've been giving him Hyland's teething tablets which seem to help some, although the doctor informed me today that it's probably just the placebo effect  (for me, not Brock). I don't know though, I still think they might make a difference, and they're homeopathic which means they're made from natural ingredients and aren't medicinal so I feel like they're a little better than constantly giving him Tylenol.

This past month has really been a fun one. Actually, from about 4-6 months there have been more fun times than bad times which makes having a baby a lot more enjoyable. Not that I want him to grow up quickly, but I do like how he's becoming more of a participant in our lives instead of just a passive observer. His little personality is developing and he is starting to gain more of an individual identity which is neat to see. However, I can already tell that discipline is going to start coming into play now because he is learning how to throw little fits when he doesn't get what he wants (for example, as we were waiting in line to leave the doctor's office, he wanted to eat the paper that I'm supposed to give to the nurse at the front desk and started angrily yelling and crying when I wouldn't let him have it. Ugh, that was embarassing and not cool, so we'll definitely be working on curbing the temper tantrums before they get out of hand.) But the majority of the time I feel like Brock is a fun little guy to be around, and I think we'll keep him.