6 Months!

I can't believe my baby boy is half a year old already! Happy half birthday, Elias! He is such a joy, and I am proud and honored to be his mommy. He has the sweetest disposition - people ask me in stores, "Is he always this happy?" Yes, he is. He is so patient with me dragging him around to the grocery store and to run errands. He has a smile for everybody, and he only starts to protest once we get into his naptime and he starts to get tired. Even then, he reserves the whining for when we get in the car - so far we haven't had any breakdowns in the middle of the grocery store. :) I pray this will last!

I suppose the biggest change in our lives the past month has been eating solids, which I wrote about here. The only thing to add to that is that he's eating green beans now, which he really seems to love. (He likes my homemade ones better than the jar, which is also the case for peas.) He is so hilarious when he eats that I had to try to capture it on video today. This is him eating cereal at his 10:30 feeding this morning:

It cracks me up that he opens his mouth so wide for each bite, and he gets his whole body into it - he leans forward, raises his hands, and waves his fingers. My mom pointed out when she was here how good he was for not trying to grab the spoon. That's not something I taught him... I think he just has come to learn that if he keeps his hands out of the way, he gets the food faster.

He is becoming very vocal! He loves to babble, grunt, shriek, and coo... When he wakes up in the morning, he can lay in his crib for a full hour and be completely entertained all on his own, just laughing and talking to himself. He has said the syllables "buh" and "muh," but he doesn't use them much yet. But I'm sure we're on the verge of some real baby talk soon!

He's becoming a lot more coordinated with his body, and daily he makes progress in gaining control of himself. He's still not quite sitting up unsupported yet, but he's getting close! He does awesome with using his hands for reaching and grabbing. At the moment one of his favorite things to do is grab my mouth when I'm trying to talk or sing to him. This results in quite a hilarious time when I'm trying to put him down for a nap, because I usually sing to him for a few minutes before I put him down... But he keeps grabbing my lips and I can't sing, and that makes me laugh, which makes him laugh... You get the idea.

He now uses all four limbs when he's playing with something - he'll hold it in his hands and kick it with his feet. So coordinated! He does this when he's sitting in the Kick & Play now too:He'll prop that left foot up on the bar and then occasionally use it to kick the toy he has in his hands. Funny boy! He can also get his feet to his mouth now, and so he'll chew on the toes of his socks... Weird, but funny.

He's working on transitioning his nap schedule so that he doesn't nap between every feeding. So since we're in transition, his naps aren't as predictable as they have been. I just keep him up until he's tired, which sometimes is only 45 minutes before his next feeding! But usually he's good to go again after just that short nap, and that will be the naptime we end up dropping when he's ready. Sundays still throw us for a loop, since he won't nap at all in the church nursery. Oh well, I figure either he'll start napping there, or he'll eventually grow out of needing a nap at that time!

We have his 6-month checkup on Monday, so I'll post the stats then!

I am so thankful for the beautiful family God has given me - my wonderful husband and precious son. I can't wait to see what the next 6 months holds for us!