William: Six Months

6 Month Stats: Half A Year Old!!

Weight: (Dr appt Monday)

Length: (Dr appt Monday)

Eating: Five nursings four hours apart a day (7/11/3/7:30/10:30DF) with a formula bottle at 6pm and solids at lunch and dinner (noon & 6pm); We are doing chunky purees for his solids. I would like to give him some whole food as well (as per baby-led weaning), but we shall see how he takes to that.

Bedtime: Bedtime starts about 7:30pm and Will is asleep by 8:15pm. I nurse him right before he goes to sleep, so he's nice and drowsy when I put him in his crib. We are so thankful he's sleeping nights in his crib now. We retired that rock 'n' play a bit ago and were so happy to do so! I dreamfeed him about 10:30pm and he goes right back down for the night. As he is getting more and more calories from food, I would like to wean him off the dreamfeed so he sleeps all the way through the night with no wake-ups.

Naps: Still rockin' two naps a day for about 1.5 to 2 hours. Some days he takes a catnap sometime between 5 & 6pm. He goes down for his naps awake and falls asleep well on his own. Now that he's used to be unswaddled and having a blanket with him, he falls asleep much easier! He moves a lot more during his naps than his night sleep, so we never know where he will be in his crib when we go to wake him up. He sometimes puts himself in the corner and cuddles himself with his blanket. He's even started sleeping on his belly and has adorable red sleep marks when he wake up :)

Diapers: Size 2 diapers (finally!)

Clothes: 3-6mo & 6mo clothes; I packed up all of Will's 3mo clothes and I was so sad to know he won't ever wear them again!

Favorites: Moving around is a priority on William's list! He doesn't like to sit still on a lap (unless you are feeding him and even then, he throws his arms & legs around at times). If you are holding him on your lap, he likes to stand and jump. One of Bret's cousins gave up their doorway jumper this week and it has quickly become a favorite! He can spin in a circle, jump, and chew on the rings attached.

Speaking of chewing, chomping on everything is something else Will enjoys! It can be a toy, water bottle, his hands/feet, your hands, paper, anything he can get his hands on. I can't feel any teeth coming through yet, but I'm sure there are some there just under the surface. He isn't drooling a lot, but the chomping is constant :)

Rolling over and over and over is William's way of getting around. You would never know that he was once not a fan of tummy time, he puts himself in it so much now. That's how he plays with most of his toys or rolls to get to them.

Laughing/smiling is one of our favorites of Will's. Most of the time, we just have to smile or laugh at him to get him going, he has a great disposition. He likes being sung to and that usually puts him in a good mood.

Dislikes: If there is someone in the room with him that can hold him, they better be holding him! He likes to be part of the action and doesn't want to be put down (and he'll let you know!).

Development: William is working hard on crawling! He can get his legs/knees up and ready to push, but his arms are down. Or, he gets up into a push up to get moving, but his legs aren't going anywhere. He does this odd push off where he's balanced on one side. He can get himself moving by wiggling and rolling around. He reaches for everything around him, whether it's things he should or shouldn't be getting. His favorite thing to reach for is cups. If you are taking a drink while holding him, he will try to get a drink as well.

We introduced solids this week as well! He's doing pretty well with them. He is getting new flavors to taste. I have read that babies should be introduced to as many flavors as possible by 2 years old. If they are, they are less likely to become picky eaters (which comes in around 3 years old). 

William continues to work on his sounds. He has low grunts for when he's trying to figure something out (playing with a toy and wanting to get to something). He has high pitch squeals for when he's having a good time playing or being held. When he plays by himself in his jumpers, he babbles vowels and a couple consonants. He continues to look to loud noises and we use his name with him as much as possible. Those big, blue eyes of his are always watching everything around him and wanting to know what others are doing!

Will is also taking swimming/water introduction lessons this summer! It is six "lessons" on introducing babies to water. So far he has just been in the water with us and practiced some splashing. He will eventually go under in the water, wondering how that will go!

Looking Forward To:
-more solid food introduction
-time together as a family since it's summer for mama!