-have a very sweet budding little personality. you are honestly such a treat and a joy to be with, and I’m not the only one who thinks or suggests that’s the truth. you rarely ever cry and are always happy, from the moment you wake up to the minute you rub your eyes and fall asleep. just yesterday we were at brunch with some friends and one of our friends said—Does he just never cry?? are you trying to convince all of mommy and daddy’s friends to have babies… b/c if so, I think you might be onto something. they all love being with you!
you are far more expressive of your preferences and have learned to push us away if there is something you don’t want. I have been surprised several times to have you push my hands away from wiping your face or changing you. and then you also let us know when you want something—if you like a kiss on the hand, for example, you will place it on our mouths over and over, laughing after each kiss. sometimes while eating, you'll take the spoon and put the food in your mouth yourself. or if you want something out of reach, you aren’t afraid to reach and scoot right over to it. you are very aware of your surroundings, constantly reaching for otis, pulling his tail and letting him lick your hands (much to my dismay!!). when someone comes through the door, you’ll turn to look from another room, you look for hidden and dropped toys and foods—and I can see your brain working—if only I could get out of this chair… and, the cutest of all, when i have your daddy on speakerphone near you, you're looking around excitedly to see where he is!
-are a pro eater and learning new things often. I wish I could buy you a poncho because this is SO VERY messy. however, I do want you to learn so that someday soon you can feed yourself! I try to let you “self feed” once a day and usually at night before your bath and almost naked because you get food EVERYWHERE (otis thinks it’s awesome). you are getting better, but still have a lot to learn about keeping food inside your mouth. you like to feel the food and try putting it in your mouth, but only about half of it stays in there. so far, you really like sweet potatoes, puffs, yogurt melts, wheat bread, crackers, squash, carrots, spinach and bananas (puffs and bread you are able to eat without slipping out of your mouth). yesterday I gave you bits of blueberries and raspberries and you wanted nothing to do with them. you get very excited for a pile of puffs, screaming in delight and attacking the pile with two hands. right now, you eat about 24 ounces of formula a day, three meals of food, and at least two handfuls of puffs PER DAY. yeah… you love food.
-spent a week without mommy and daddy! in may, we went to Antigua and you spent half the week with grandma and grandpa and half with mamama and pop pop. I was worried you wouldn’t remember me when we got home, but you were thrilled to see us. they did such a wonderful job taking good care of you—you are a very lucky little boy!
-are going to crawl any second. you can get from sitting down onto your hands and knees to rock back and forth. from there, you either fall down on your tummy OR can transition back to sitting. when on your tummy, sometimes you can get up on hands and knees and rock and other times you are just stuck and get mad that you can’t get where you NEED to go. this weekend, I left you in the living room for a few minutes on the floor while I unpacked groceries from the car. when I came through the room, you had moved about two feet and were facing, sitting, in a completely new direction. I still have no idea quite how you accomplished this! and another time, I looked at you to find you on hands and knees rocking towards otis. I know it is only a matter of time before you take off. at your great grandma’s house last week, while on her hardwood floor, you scooted around on your tummy with ease. needless to say, I’ll be spending this weekend adam-proofing our house…
-pull to stand! you hold our hands and, with no help of ours, stand yourself right up by pulling with arms and pushing with legs. you look at us each time with such an accomplished face. it’s precious.
-say na-na and da-da like you cannot get enough of hearing them. you also sometimes repeat sounds that we make if we say them directly to you.
-play pattacake and clap your hands a lot. if we sing the patta cake song, you’ll start smiling and clapping right away. I feel that if you can learn this, you can start learning to sign so I am going to look for some books this weekend.
-are super ticklish on your feet and the tops of your legs. you giggle and kick anytime we tickle you there.
-LOOOOOOOOOOOOOVE paper. any type of paper. you probably like it even more because I rarely let you have it—fearful that you’ll eat it and choke or something! you can be content for over an hour with one sheet of paper. I think it is the way it crinkles and feels so different from anything else you experience, but who knows….
-still love your bath. I think you could sit there and play for hours. we bathe you every night and you have no problems with water in your face at all. I look forward to getting you a baby pool for this summer very soon!
-wear 12-18 month size clothes. at 6 months you weighed 18 lbs, so I am guessing you’re near 20 lbs right now. you have another appt at your ped next month, so we’ll see soon for sure.
-haven’t been sick for awhile, thank goodness. I can only guess that it’s because we’re moving out of the flu season, but you haven’t had a runny nose in awhile—finally! at 6 months was your last cold, but for awhile I felt you were just getting over one cold before catching another! maybe your immune system is more developed? maybe the week out of daycare with your grandparents helped? I have no idea, but I am just glad you’re feeling well.
-are getting a lot more hair, finally. if you’re anything like your dad, I’m sorry to tell you it’s all down hill from here, haha.
what a sweet little bundle of love. i can't wait to see him again and give him a big squeeze.
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