6 Months (and a week) (and a day)

Size: 16 pounds (20%) 27.5 inches (80%) (Every calorie goes to making longer femurs)

Clothes: Carters 3-6 fit, most others have issues snapping. But 6-9 month fits too. Some PJ's are getting too short in the 3-6 month, but some are huge. (Everything is different!) There are some 6-9 onesies that we have to start wearing ASAP for length issues.

Eating: 5 bottles a day, less than 6 ounces. This is due to the lingering runny nose he's had for weeks. It started on day 3 of daycare so I figured it was that, but now I'm pretty sure it's allergies. Kids at daycare have gross runny noses that indicate illness. His is just runny and it gets worse and better on the same days mine is worse and better. (And I know mine are allergies) He's been spitting up more with the runny nose too because he coughs and then spits up. So he's way down in calories hence the slowing down of weight gain. (That plus all the extra movement because he's never still. Ever.) We don't force food because the spitting gets worse and the doctor agreed with that. He lets us know when he's hungry and he's growing so he's ok and nobody's concerned. He also got to start real food last week. We had some suggestions from the GI doctor about what to go with. We did pureed avocado. We started with just a little water and he couldn't handle thick food and the runny nose/throat thing so we watered it down really far. I'm guessing he doesn't hate it, because he doesn't scream. He does open his mouth and ask for more, and he will stick the spoon in his own mouth with food on it. But he makes faces like he hates it. Who knows. It's funny. We can only introduce a new food once a week after investigating diapers for allergy signs as well as watching for rashes and all the things that didn't happen with the original allergy diagnosis. So he's only eating with us right now, not at school.

Sleeping: If it's a school day, he often falls asleep before 8pm. He is sometimes ready to wake up just before 6am when I have to get him up to eat. Other days take more encouragement. We just turn on the lights at 5:30 when I get in the shower so that he can wake up gradually. He's not a fan of early wake up times. On the weekend, when he nods off around 7, we keep him downstairs around noise so that it's just a nap. Then he wakes up for a little while after 8 and eats a little more before going to bed for good. That lets him sleep til 7 on the weekend. He naps great here and sometimes great at school, it depends on the day and how much fun they're having. He would much rather look at babies than sleep. :)

Physical/Facial/Activities: He's finally willing to bear weight on his legs when we hold him up. We know he can roll both ways, but he chooses to do it very rarely. His hands are getting pretty good - he can get a spoon in his mouth, and he can grab the bugs on his car seat and pull. (The bug thing clicked today so a little later than 6 weeks.) He makes funny faces when he eats, and in the last couple days he's also started sticking out his tongue and wagging it. That seemed to start when he started eating. He uses his tongue to push out food, so then he mimics that same motion for fun. He can do "the worm" when he's doing tummy time and he loves jumping in the jumperoo.

Crying/Vocal: He's starting to make some consonants but still won't really mimic us. We laugh because some of his sounds kind of sound like "mean mommy" and "mean daddy."

Me: I really did start feeling almost normal right around the 6 month mark. Normal in a "I have a baby" way, but more normal than before. I can even run a few steps here and there to get something, like down to the mailbox in the rain. That's new and exciting!