Six Months

Six months.

One half of a year.

As I sit here, watching our six month old son happily entertain himself in his exersaucer, I can’t believe that half of his first year of life has passed. He’s grown and changed so much during the last 181 days. He gets more handsome every day. Okay, I lied. He gets more handsome every second. I’m his mom, I’m crazy about him, so sue me. He is still the happiest baby I have ever met. He’s quick to smile at funny faces I make, songs I sing to him and just about anything having to do with his daddy. Literally just saying “da” makes him giggle. There is nothing like the look of pure joy that he gives when he wakes up and one of us goes to pick him up from where he is laying.

He’s very inquisitive. He studies everything. He loves to people watch when we are out in public. He’s taught himself how to use each of the toys on his exersaucer with minimal adult intervention. I am loving watching as his hand-eye coordination and dexterity become more refined than the “flailing in the right general direction” of a few months ago.  He is purposeful in his movements and very strong. He has a very firm grip and baby abs of steel. His legs have no trouble bearing his weight and, were it not for that whole balance thing, he could stand on his own.

He’s mobile. He can’t quite crawl yet, but the combination of rolling, turning different directions while on his tummy and scooting himself forward with his legs helps him cross the span of rooms or our bed. It’s an exciting and scary time for me as he can’t be left alone or he may fall off of something. He sets his mind to a destination or toy (or my cell phone) and works his way to it through the capabilities he has. I don’t think it will be long before he can really get around. Though he once hated tummy time, now that he can roll from his back to his belly and move around, he seems to enjoy the vantage point of the tummy.  As I’m typing this he just pushed himself up onto his hands and knees while trying to get to the elusive cell phone. This momma is about to be very busy.

He’s still our long and lean boy. Though 6 months old, he can still fit into a few of his 0-3 month clothes. This is totally brand dependent, though. Old Navy must run big because he fits into 0-3 still but Gerber must run small because his 3-6 clothes are tight on him. We’ll find out his weight and height at his six month well-baby visit on Monday. Then the chalkboard making and picture taking shall commence.

We’ve started to experiment with baby foods. He still nurses (like a champ, now!) and has formula but has extended his repertoire to include rice cereal and puréed food. So far he’s tried apples & strawberries, peaches, carrots and pears. Next on the list to try is sweet potatoes. He’s become much more skilled at the use of the spoon, as have we! He seems to like pears and apple/strawberry the best so far. I’ll be trying to make our own purées here pretty soon! I’m also intrigued by the idea of baby-led weaning, but haven’t really tried to give him any whole foods yet except a small piece of tortilla and some mashed potatoes. He is fascinated by watching people eat, especially his Uncle Matt at breakfast time. He also loves to chew on spoons. Maybe he is trying to imitate adults eating?

He babbles a lot. Sometimes he’ll just sit there or lay there with one finger in his mouth telling us his life story. Though it often sounds like he’s saying “hi” or “hey” (and the “hey” definitely makes him sound like the Fonz), I’m not really sure if those count as his first words? I’m trying to teach him to say “Daddy,” but with the amount of Crossfit talk around our house, his first word might be “deadlift.”

Jonathan means “God has given” in Hebrew. God has certainly given us an amazing gift. He fills our days with joy and laughter. He fills our hearts with a love so deep and so rich. He makes me fall more in love with my husband. He has bonded us together as a team on another level. It is an honor and privilege to raise him, to pray for him and to shape him into the man of God he will someday become.  I am so thankful for him and the great adventure his life will be.