6 months

Henry is six months old today. His infancy is flying by.

Stats: We don't have a doctor's appointment for a while, so I don't know how much he weighs. Probably around 16 lbs now? He wears mainly 9 month and 6-12 month clothes now. The outfit above is 6 months, but it's getting small.

(Can I just go crazy for a minute over how cute he is? The red hair, the blue eyes, the chubby cheeks you want to eat all up, the facial expressions. Oh my...) 

Schedule: Henry's still on about the same schedule he's been on for a couple months now. He wakes up between 6:30 and 7:00 most mornings. I feed him and he plays by himself some or with Celia while we all go through the morning/breakfast routine. His morning nap happens around 8:30 or 9:00, followed by a feeding and play (or we go out sometimes). Afternoon nap is between 12:30 and 1:00. Then he nurses again and we play, go outside, run an errand, and/or pick up Celia from daycare. After that he and Celia are usually playing or he watches her play, and then he naps again from about 5:30-6:15 while I make dinner and we start eating. Henry is not the best napper, so we frequently have days when the nap times are a bit different. After dinner, he usually nurses and then we start the bath and bedtime routine for both kids. Henry goes to bed at 7:30. We've just had three nights when he went all night without nursing! He must know he's a big 6-month-old boy now. On Friday night he woke a little around 11:00, I gave him his binky and he fell asleep, and he slept until 6:45 in the morning. Saturday night the same thing happened and then he woke up around 5:45, nursed, and slept until after 7:00. Last night he slept all night, woke at 5:00 and nursed, and he is still sleeping now at 6:30.

Motor Development: Henry has changed a lot in the last month. He sits pretty independently. I still put the Boppy behind him in case he loses his balance, and he sometimes falls forward if he reaches too far for something. He is also able to sit up for long periods of time now. He reaches for and wants to play with everything he sees, and he can keep his balance while sitting and playing with toys now. He has gotten much better at holding and manipulating objects. He can easily put things in his mouth, and he's starting to use both hands together and move objects from one hand to the other. Henry still dislikes being on his stomach, but now he hardly ever tries to roll and has started trying to crawl instead. He has never done much rolling. Now he lifts his arms and torso off the floor, and also gets his legs in crawling position, but can't coordinate the upper and lower body to move anywhere yet.

Social and Communication: Henry is laughing more, and pays attention when people are talking. He loves watching Celia and other kids, and he laughs and laughs when other kids entertain him. If something is funny and the grown-ups are laughing, Henry looks at me and laughs too. It's amazing how babies can pick up on social cues so early on. Henry still isn't babbling very often. He can make different vowel sounds, and I've heard him use different consonants to make syllables like boo, bah, gah, mah, ahgoo. He seems to prefer just quietly observing everything around him. He notices absolutely everything. He has started communicating what he wants by either reaching for an object, or staring at what he wants until I get it for him. He has also just started imitating, not necessarily for purposeful communication but as a precursor to it. The other day I was showing Henry how to wave goodbye to Chris when he left for work. Henry looked at Chris, was watching my hand moving, and then started moving his hand the same way to imitate the wave. He did it twice, so I knew it wasn't a coincidence. Another thing this month is that Henry has become even more aware of his surroundings. He knows who's around, notices new people, recognizes familiar faces and voices outside of our nuclear family, and has become more aware of where I am at all times. He can be perfectly happy playing alone or with someone else, but as soon as he sees me walk by he wants me. I remember the same thing happened with Celia at about this time, where I'd have to sneak around without her seeing me if I wanted her to spend time with other people or get anything done for myself.

Cognitive: Henry enjoys playing peekaboo. He anticipates what's next in simple social games. For example, if Chris is doing something that makes Henry laugh, Henry will anticipate that it's coming and start laughing beforehand. Henry is beginning to understand cause and effect with his toys. He is curious about everything he sees. He likes all kinds of toys, but especially enjoys ones that light up and play music, or feel good in his mouth. He really likes looking at books. Henry is also starting to like hearing us sing songs. Just as his sister did, he likes Old MacDonald. The repetitive verses and animal sounds are just right for babies.

This set of pictures is neat because you can see his thought process. He was sitting near some of Celia's toys (that he normally wouldn't be playing with), and noticed something. 

Look at that interest on his face! "Hmmmm..."

Sister wasn't around, so he went for it. 

Since I always get sentimental at these monthly milestones, I found a picture of Celia from when she was six months old:

Henry doesn't look as much like Celia as when he was a newborn, but they still look a lot alike. I can't believe we're already halfway to Henry's first birthday, and almost halfway to Celia's fourth! As hard as it is sometimes to have little kids, I do not want my babies to grow up. If I could stop things as they are right now and just keep them this way, I think I might.