A Few Pics

We're all recovering from colds, so no recent pictures have turned out. In lieu of new photos, some older ones:

In the last burst of nice fall weather, SA and I hung out on the front porch a bit. In the background is Wimsey; SA would love to get his hands on one of our cats, but so far, no luck. I don't trust them to be particularly patient with little grasping fingers, so it's just as well.




He's almost ready for a driver's license - he just needs learn to sit up on his own.

The standard shot to embarrass him at some far-off date:

He's finally willing to enjoy snuggling with Mom without trying to dig around to find the food supply. Sometimes.

Enjoy the long weekend!

Six Month Appointment

SA went to the doctor on Monday and got a clean bill of health - he's meeting the various benchmarks for skills, and got several vaccinations plus a flu shot (Mercury-free, just in case.) The stats are now 18 lbs 12 oz in weight, 26 3/4 inches in length, and a head circumference of 17 inches - percentiles are 64th, 51st, and 25th respectively. All of these are a bit less extreme than his last appointment, which is just fine.

He's getting too big for the kitchen sink bathtub we've been using, so I bought an inflatable one to go in the real bathtub. He played in it just fine in the living room without water, but was seriously unhappy when we tried to bathe him in it. So we'll give it a few weeks and try again.

Tooth 2

Just when you thought it was safe to go back near the gumline...

Another little ridge of enamel appears!

They're hard to see, but his two lower central teeth are there, ready to take on any challenge. Of course, there aren't any upper teeth yet, so the challenge should probably be pureed first, but still, he's ready.

Six Months

Six months ago, on May 18th, I had a pretty uncomfortable evening - my back ached no matter what position I lay in, and I was miserable and couldn't sleep. My due date was two weeks away, and I had finally hit the seriously uncomfortable part of pregnancy. In fact I made the decision to try to wrap up everything at work as quickly as possible over the next couple weeks, and leave the office a week earlier than I had planned.

Around 1 in the morning, I decided that something wasn't right, so I called the doctor, who thought it was probably nothing, but I should probably come in just in case. So I woke RB up, explaining it was probably a false alarm, but we needed to go to the hospital.

Of course, it turns out the whole time I was in labor - my water had broken that morning, and the people who tell you you'll know when you're having a contraction are lying. So the next couple hours got progressively more painful, until 3:30 when the nice man with the epidural showed up and made the whole process much much pleasanter. And 5 hours later or so, we had our little guy.

He was sweet and cuddly and wonderful 6 months ago. But since then, he has:

• Eaten for hundreds and hundreds of hours, gained around 12-13 pounds and grown 6-7 inches (I'm estimating - we'll know for sure after Monday's checkup).
• Rolled over from his back to his tummy, then realized (repeatedly) that he prefers to be on his back, but can't do anything about it.
• Grown a tooth (with the accompanying gallons of drool. Gallons. Every day. Some days I'm surprised the living room isn't submerged - good thing we've got that new sump pump in the basement.)
• Batted at objects hanging in front of him, then grabbed objects, then passed them from hand to hand. Now he picks up every toy within reach, plays with each for a while, tosses them out of reach, and then cries because he doesn't have anything to play with.
• Learned to scoot short distances, mostly in the opposite direction from where he wants to go.
• Learned to smile and grin and giggle - he's excited when we tickle him, or blow raspberries on his tummy, or whistle, and he loves to be bounced around.

Happy birthday SA - you've changed enormously, but you're still sweet and cuddly and wonderful. You're your own little person,with opinions on everything, and you'll probably change as much over the next 6 months as you have already. But don't change too quickly - for one thing, we haven't made the house safe for people who try to climb bookcases or stick their tongues into outlets. And for another, you're too charming right now to want to move through this phase quickly.

Bananas Redux

Success!

Well, the little guy isn't exactly fond of food that isn't milk or rice (or some combination thereof), but he has stopped reacting like I'm trying to poison him. The babysitter reports that he successfully ate applesauce several times this week, and so I pulled out the bananas for a second go this afternoon. In a few more days, I think I'll try some squash, something a little less sweet, so he doesn't get too sugar dependant.

Of course, the goal of all this solid food experimentation is the sleeping-through-the-night grail, and right now it seems further away than ever. But I live in hope.

Scooting

SA isn't really mobile yet... he can roll over from front to back with no problem, but can't get back to his front, and he can't lift himself up onto hands and knees. But in the last few days he has started using his arms to push himself backwards. When he got himself off our carpet piece the other night, he managed to scoot a good 2 feet or so before I put him back with his toys.

It's sort of funny, because he's trying with all his might to go forward. He pushes a toy out of reach, and in his frustration trying to get at it, he pushes himself further and further away.

Can I put this in my mouth?

They do warn that everything goes into the mouth at this age.

Relaxing Weekend

Toothy grin

Where once there was only gums, a sharp little ridge of enamel has appeared. Specifically, a left lower central incisor.

Of course, getting an actual picture of the thing is beyond my abilities at present - it's hard enough to get a picture of SA without a toy, stuffed animal, hand, or foot in his mouth.

Yesterday, after the little guy finished his bowl of cereal, he was still sitting with an open mouth (the "baby bird" look - sometimes I feel tempted to drop in a worm.) So I shrugged and poured another serving of cereal. After he finished that, he nursed for 10 minutes.

It shouldn't surprise me that he's big for his age, really.