Six months is here! It has been a fascinating month seeing his growth expressed. He has gone from fragile baby to sturdy strong and eager to explore. When I hold him he now has this compulsion to look around the room, lock eyes on an item and reach out for said item. And then we have the attempts to crawl. He is now up on his hands and knees pretty regularly. He rocks back and forth but hasn’t quite put together his arms and legs. He does though end up moving himself backwards. He is quite content being put down on the floor and being left to explore. Between crawl attempts, rolling both ways, and scooching, for someone who can’t quite crawl, Gabe does an amazing job of getting around. Chair legs, side table and under the pack n play are all fair game. This has also upped the ante when getting him ready for bed at night. He no longer wants to lay there for his coconut oil massage, clean diaper, and PJ’s. Toys and pacifier only work so much.
Another big expression has been touch and textures. Must touch everything!!! Hot cup of coffee? MUST TOUCH! Standing lamp next to the glider? MUST TOUCH & PUT IN MOUTH! Mason jar of coconut oil? MUST STICK HAND IN! Cupholder? YES! I’m using his interest in touching to introduce him to vegetable and fruit textures. I gave him a small whole white potato the other day and he happy to hold it and slobber it. And if he wasn’t already putting everything in his mouth, it continues. Along with the drool. It’s all part of being a kid.
In addition to the touching has come distraction. Feeding can be a bit difficult at times as he would rather look around and reach for things than concentrate (not that it takes THAT much concentration to eat) to eat his bottle. He will take a few sucks then unlatch and move his head around. Sometimes try to sit up. Milk dripping down his chin and all over him because he doesn’t swallow. It’s kind of annoying. And this is away from distractions… in the glider in his room. We even had to take his board books off the side table because was more interested in eating them than his bottle. Silly kid. This is all normal, by the way. The internets confirmed, along with his doctor, that it’s totally normal at this age. There are just too many more interesting things than eating right now.
He’s added new sounds to his repertoire. Just like that he started making “ba” and “ma” sounds along with opening and closing his mouth like a fish. He totally said “ma ma” but it wasn’t in recognition. It was just saying those sounds. It’s neat to see him start adding to his “vocabulary.” You see the development right before your eyes. It’s cute. I try to catch it on video but he has a way of stopping what he is doing when I hold my phone up.
Another big milestone this month was his first big travel adventure. A week before turning six months, we jumped on airplane to visit family in North Carolina. Preparing to travel was stressful. Traveling with an almost six month old was stressful. And how did Gabe do? Amazing. We took a red eye there and he slept the whole way. I think that was more like an answered prayer. He was fascinated by all the stimulation of the airport. He hasn’t experienced that much stimulation before! And when getting on the plane he was sure to charm the stewards and the people on the plane. The flight back had a bit more challenge to it being the end of the trip and during the day. But overall, of both flights, there was a point where he cried for an hour and we couldn’t console him. Thankfully he finally passed out. It was also awesome that he never really got on east coast time. This allowed me to get a little more sleep while there and also made the transition home much easier. The only downside to this adventure is that he did get a bit of a cold. It hasn’t impacted him too bad… still playing and eating like normal. But he definitely stuffy and sometimes has a bit of a runny nose.
To celebrate turning six months we decided to start introducing solid foods. His first food? Avocado mashed with breastmilk. His reaction? Just about every facial expression you can imagine. A mix of bewilderment and awe. The whole tongue swallow thing seems very strange to him too. But we can save talking about the rest of first foods for next month when he has had a little bit more practice and tired a few more foods.
And for making it to the end of this post, here is a sneak peak at Gabe’s 6 months photos from the lovely Monica Michelle.
Not So Serendipitous 