Well, it's true, Connor is officially 6 months old and boy has it been quite a half of a year. He's amazing and every day he discovers this exciting new world around him just a little bit more.
At 6 months, he is well into solid foods. He eats solids twice a day and has actually enjoyed the following foods: carrots, acorn squash, yellow zucchini, sweet potato, peas, avocado, banana, apple, rice cereal, and oatmeal cereal. He is actually a very good eater, when he's not over tired. He seems to lean into the spoon and he opens his mouth like he's been eating for years. Nice work, Mr. Cheeks.
Another food related first that happened this past month, was he sat in a restaurant high chair a couple of times. He also is now sitting directly in the shopping cart, instead of teetering on top in his infant car seat. He seems to like it. He is also sitting more and more in the regular stroller, not in the stroller that snaps his infant car seat into it. Soon enough, we will be graduating out of the infant car seat altogether. Not quite yet, but soon.
He has also become a terrific sitter. He actually seems to prefer sitting to lying down now. He likes to sit and grab at his toys and chew on them. He has sort of developed a preference for this Manhattan Toys squish toy and his sophie the giraffe, which makes an excellent teether.
He still has just the two teeth, but he still loves to chew and he drools a lot, so I'm sure it will be only a matter of time before the top two come in as well.
He still "talks" a lot, but there are no discernible words. He also likes blowing raspberries, which is pretty amusing.
He seems to smile at me and Jeff almost every time we smile at him, but he still rarely smiles for strangers. He's Mr. Serious out in public. That's OK, even without smiles, we still get stopped all the time to be told how cute he is. I of course beam with pride. He is darn cute. I'll admit it.
He hasn't made much progress in the way of "locomoting" as in crawling, etc. but that's mostly because I don't enjoy watching my son suffer. He still hates being on his tummy and just mildly tolerates it for about 2 minutes at a time. He has started to turn in a circle when he's on his stomach, but it's very slow going. It's kind of funny though.
His hair is starting to grow back in and for now it's this downy soft, blond fluff on the top of his head. He has a cute little cowlick in front and one in the back that looks like a hurricane on a weather map.
He is definitely starting to get my attention and he knows what he's doing. The other day, I set him down so I could fill up my water bottle and I heard him start to fuss a little. I walked up to him and literally, the moment I put my hands under his armpits to pick him up, he got quiet, as if to say, "Yup, that's what I wanted. Thanks, I'm good now." What a stinker.
His sleep is starting to really get better now as well. He is actually starting to sleep through the night consistently, from 7 PM until 6:30 AM.
We don't know how much he weighs and how tall he is, but we go to our 6 month check up tomorrow. He's still a big boy, so I'm expecting probably bigger than the 50th percentile, but we shall see. He'll get more shots, but hopefully he'll do as well as he's done in the past.
That is, unless he's got a stupid cold. That is something new that happened this month, he got his first and second colds. It's hard, because he can't breathe through his nose well so it wakes him up. We've had a couple bad nights with this cold. It's not fun for any of us. Jeff and I continue to be healthy, so I'm grateful for that. I can't imagine being sick and keeping up with a baby.
We had a big first this month, when Connor had his first real babysitter. People have "watched" him once he's been asleep, but no one has babysat him for an extended period when he's awake. This person came over at around 5pm, and Jeff and I left around 5:30 to go to his company's Christmas party. I am a total nerd, and I had a document all prepared with his schedule and detailed instructions. Jeff made fun of me a bit, but the babysitter, who happens to be our good friend Andrea Faz, said she appreciated it.
I am really loving having a 6 month old. He's sweet and finally getting a nice sleeping routine and he stays put. Life's not too bad for us. I'm looking forward to what's in store next month though too. I'm sure it will be a doozy!
Happy Holidays one and all. I may not get to post much, but I'm sure I'll have lots of photos to share when the holidays are over. Connor flies to Amarillo again, so wish us luck. We also drive to Austin, so he'll get more time with his cousins. It should be a fun couple of weeks. I'm sure we'll get lots of gifts, and I know this sounds really cheesy, but no matter what I receive, I know that Connor will be the greatest gift I have gotten this year. Happy 6 months buddy. You're the greatest.
Connor sitting with one of his favorite chew toys, the squish ball.
A big 6 month old.
He's still got jumbo cheeks.
What a cutie. He's 6 months old!
Now's the fun part. Playing with the sign.
He got to celebrate his 6 month birthday with his friend Allison. Allison is our good friends, Anthony and Lindsey Zaccari's, 19 month old daughter.
You can never get two kids looking or smiling at the same time. Allison loved Connor's toys.
Jeff and Anthony are friends from college. It looks like things have changed a bit.
Jeff holding Connor before church today in his dapper Christmas duds (thanks Grandma Roach).
Church was great today, because it had lots of Christmas music like Hark the Herald Angels Sing and Joy to the World. It ran a little long though, so Connor struggled at the very end. He made it though.
After church, we had lunch outside. It was another beautiful day. Happy 6 Month Birthday Connor.
