Live Inside My Bubble: Letters to Aden: Six Months

Monday, May 19, 2014

Letters to Aden: Six Months

Hello my baby boy,

You are six months old today! With you in our lives, every day seems better than the last. It is crazy how quickly the last six months have flown by. Seriously, where has the time gone?

You are such a delightful child; always happy, smiling, babbling and cooing. At six months old, you weigh 16.5 pounds (32%) and 26 inches tall (20%), wear size 6-9 month clothing and size 3 diapers. It finally seems like you're slowing down in the growth department. For a while there, you were blowing through newborn, 0-3 and then 3-6 month clothing at warp speed. Everyone always comments what a big boy you are, but in reality you're on the smaller side of the growth scale in both weight and height. You're now very similar in size to Tory at age six months. One thing's for certain: I would've never dreamed I'd have a blue-eyed, blond-haired little boy (you look like a little baldy in photos, but there's really a covering of blond, peach-fuzz hair on top of your head). I'm not sure if your looks will change over time. Some days, I think your hair is turning light brown to match the color of Tory's and other days it looks as blond as ever. Your eyes continue to be a solid blue color, and I'd be surprised if they change to anything different.

During the daytime, you're now sleeping about an hour in the morning (9:00am - 10:00am), two hours in the afternoon (usually 12:30pm - 2:30pm) and a quick 20-minute snooze around 5:30pm. At night, you're going to bed around 7:30pm with wake-ups every 2-4 hours (usually around 9:000pm/10:00pm, Midnight/1:00am and 2:00am/3:00am). I did a quick comparison to Tory's sleeping habits at this age and ironically, she was waking in the night at exactly the same times.

It's been a big month of milestones for you. At 24 weeks old, you started sitting with some support from a pillow or someone behind you. You love to look around the room and be part of playtime with Tory. When you're not practicing your new found skill of sitting, you're bouncing (bouncing, bouncing, bouncing...) in your Johnny Jump-Up toy. It took you a few weeks to learn how this baby gadget worked and now that you've got it, you catch some air! It's so fun to watch you squeak and squeal as you jump with a big smile plastered across your face. I should also mention you *can* roll over from tummy to back now. You're not a big fan of lying on your stomach (even though we practice "tummy time" daily) and if you get mad enough, you will roll from belly to back again. I've never seen you even attempt to roll from back to stomach - ha! When you're laying flat, you're usually very content to stay there.

Sitting solo (and turning six months old) means you're old enough for solid food now. You've tried rice cereal, sweet potatoes and bananas so far, and you aren't a big fan at all. You don't seem skilled enough to eat mushed up "real food" just yet, so I may back off a bit and re-visit solid foods in a few weeks when you seem more interested.

This month's "likes" include: the baby swing and activity mat, taking baths in the plastic pink tub, your favorite blue blanket and pacifier, bouncy balls, "playing" with Tory and anything to chew on, especially those five-point rubber teethers. You "dislike" having your clothes changed, laying on your stomach, wearing hats, baby food purees and having your fingernails trimmed.

A quick story about your love for 'bouncy balls.' Last weekend, Tory and I were rolling a big plastic ball back and forth to one another and you were sitting on my lap. I have never seen you as excited about anything in your short life than you were about that ball. You reached your hands out to grasp the ball and squealed with delight whenever it rolled your way. I thought you were going to leap out of my lap to catch it!

Many "firsts" this month as well. Our family made road trips to Nebraska for Easter and Iowa over Mother's Day weekend. You swam in a swimming pool for the first time (you loved it!) and went for your first pontoon boat ride around Pipe Lake (you cried most of the time!). You're so chatty this month, always jabbering away and making ba-ba and ma-ma sounds. You still growl like a little lion cub when you're mad and it really is the cutest thing ever.