Simon [6 months]

I've had to attempt keeping myself from succumbing to tears several times this month, as Simon has been hitting milestone after milestone at lightening speed.  Of course, the constant threat of tears stems from happiness, but it's difficult as a parent to not feel a bit sad about watching your child grow and change right before your eyes even when feeling excited and proud at the same time.  But, as rain is meant to fall and the sun is meant to shine, our children are meant to advance and develop into wonderful, older, human beings.  That being said, I am delighted to share with you the many new things Simon is now doing all on his own.  His sixth month was sure full of surprises and fun.

6-month checkup

chew monster

last toothless smile

 

At 27 weeks, Simon had his 6-month well baby checkup.  His weight came in at 16 pounds and 14.7 ounces, putting him in the 35th percentile, and his height measured 27 3/4 inches, making the 86th percentile.  Our pediatrician was very pleased with Simon's progress and even called him "perfect," and Eric and I were proud to watch him sit unassisted on the scale all by himself.  We are also happy to announce that our boy has begun to cut teeth!  He started the teething adventure around month 4, and we're now seeing the final result of a few little chompers sprouting through.  The craziest thing about Simon's teeth showing up is that he cut his first one without either of us knowing!  He's been drooling and chewing on everything he can get his little hands on for weeks now, but nothing in his behavior signaled that he was in any pain or discomfort from his teeth coming in.  I'm now of course checking his mouth at every chance I get, looking for new teeth and tracking the progress of those that are about to cut.  Only our kid would get his first teeth under the radar without Mommy and Daddy knowing about it first! 

 

1st ride in the big boy part of the stroller

practicing sitting upright

snoozing in his crib

Simon is showing us that he is less of a baby and more of a Big Boy everyday.  Being so tall, I can no longer hold him in a cradle position in my arms without him flailing about until he wiggles free to roll away.  I've also been nervously checking his height to see if he's getting close to outgrowing his infant car seat and needing to transition to a convertible, but luckily we still have some time.  Out of curiosity, I decided to try him out riding in the "big boy" part of his stroller instead of clicking his car seat into the stroller base during one of our morning walks.  The change of scenery to front-facing from rear-facing seemed to pique his curiosity, but he still has a bit of growing to do before he can permanently ride comfortably in the front.  Simon's also been getting a lot of sitting practice with the help of his Bumbo chair and spending time in Mommy's lap.  I've been giving him lots of opportunities to sit with his hands propped up on a toy or other surface to help him steady his own balance, and I think all this practice has really been helping to develop his abdominal strength.  The other major Big Boy milestone we began working on this month was crib training.  With it being my last month at home before going back to work and poor Eric being constantly roused by Simon's frequent wiggles in our bed, I decided that it was finally the right time to begin the transition of Simon sleeping on his own.  The first night went pretty well, which led me into having too great of expectations for the second night and resulted in a disaster, but I've now learned to just follow Simon's lead for success.  Because he screams bloody murder when put down in his crib awake, my tactic is nursing him in our bed until he falls asleep and unlatches, and then transferring him to his crib.  When he wakes up, I nurse him again until he goes back down, and I repeat the cycle.  In the beginning, I was staying awake by reading or playing on my phone until he was done eating, but I quickly learned that I was loosing too much sleep.  Now I fall back asleep with him while he nurses until he unlatches, which wakes me to return him to his room.  He was up every few hours during the first few nights of training, but by the end of the first week Simon was back on his routine of waking only twice during the night for feedings as he did when we were co-sleeping.  While I sometimes miss cuddling with my baby in our bed, it's also nice to be able to cuddle with my wonderful husband again!  

yummy teether

face plant into mashed potatoes

investigating the spoon

It was hard for me to admit it, but Simon started showing signs he was ready for solids kind of early.  He's been working on his hand-eye coordination for a while now, and watching him pick up or grab his teethers when handed to him and bring them to his mouth with such ease was one of the first clues that he was ready for food.  Another was when he began watching me eat; his eyes would not leave my food as it traveled from the plate to my mouth and he'd stare with intent focus.  Then he started grabbing for my food, whether it be on a utensil or in my fingers, by reaching for my hand and trying to direct it toward his mouth instead of mine.  When he couldn't make the food come to him, Simon decided it was time to take himself to the food, and thus began the roll or scoot in the direction of whatever tasty dish being enjoyed by Mommy or Daddy.  Finally, there came the day that our darling boy lunged himself at my dinner and took a premeditated face plant right into my plate of mashed potatoes!  It was here that I could no longer deny the fact that this kid wanted real food, and he wanted it now.  I started letting him play with silverware as an introduction and even successfully spoon-fed him his liquid Vitamin D supplements as a tryout.  Now that we have cleared the 6-month mark, we are now diving into the world of introducing solids.  Check back next month for a recap of our experience!

best buddies

always in each others' business

twinsies

Our silly boy has recently discovered the awesomeness of his doggy and has completely fallen in love.  As I mentioned in Simon's first month blog post, Courage has been curious of and protective over Simon from Day 1, and Eric and I have had no doubts about their future budding relationship.  Over the last few months, Courage has learned to calm down and relax around Simon, although greeting baby first thing in the morning and covering him in kisses is still one of his favorite things to do.  In the recent weeks, Simon has begun to reciprocate Courage's advances by giving that dog a taste of his own medicine.  He's not quite licking his canine brother in the face, but Simon does find joy in pulling Courage's tail, climbing on him, and practicing his own version of "petting" (gathering a handful of hair and skin in his little palm and squeezing it tight).  For the most part, Courage is actually a really great sport about it, and even when Simon tugs at him a little too hard, Courage always returns later for kisses.  My favorite part to watch is the smile that lights up Simon's face when Courage enters the room, and we actually have our beloved dog to thank for causing Simon to have his first official laugh!  We've always known our dog is silly, but Simon finds him to be downright hysterical.  It looks like the two of them are off to a great start on becoming the best of friends.

 

Simon's first time swimming 

testing the water

the reaction

Late into summer, we finally took Simon swimming for the first time.  Our friends, Jeff and Kerry, invited us and a few other families to their home for dinner, and they generously allowed us to use their awesome pool for Simon's first dip.  As you can see from the photos, he wasn't quite a fan of the water.  We made the mistake of waiting until after dinner to get in, when the sun was no longer over the pool and the water was considerably less warm.  Simon cried the minute the cold water touched his little legs, so we tried moving him to the spa where the water temperature was more comfortable.  Simulating a bath, the spa was more comforting and less scary, and Simon almost immediately fell asleep in my arms.  We made swim attempt #2 the next weekend at Pappy's house, this time in the early afternoon when the sun was still plenty high in the sky.  While the weather was warmer, our second attempt initially bombed when Simon began fussing and crying instantly.  After catching a snack and a small nap, we gave it another try and our sleepy baby almost wasn't having it.  Then to our surprise, he fell asleep in my arms while I was holding him in the pool, and later woke up smiling and began enjoying the sensation of the water.  We hope that with more experiences in the pool, Simon will learn to love swimming and become the little water baby we know he can be.

1st State Fair

Robyn's baby shower for her son, Baby Boy Parvin

 

coolest baby ever

During my last few weeks at home before returning to work full time, I made the most of my remaining days alone with my boy.  Simon was often back in our bed in the early morning after spending the beginning of the night in his crib, so when we woke up together I would start each day by strapping him in my Ergo carrier and taking Courage for a walk.  We went on lunch dates with Mommy's friends and enjoyed lots of family time with Daddy, either hanging out at home in the evenings or on outings to go shopping on the weekends.  I was so happy that we were able to make it to the State Fair this year, and we just so happened to go on the same day as several of our friends.  Our darling son hung out in the Ergo and was a happy little clam, completely in awe of all the lights, sounds, and spectacles to be seen.  Simon and I also went to our fourth baby shower, celebrating Robyn and her soon-to-arrive baby boy... finally, a boy!  Other fun things we did included spending mommy/baby time with two of my mom friends and their babies; Kesley invited us to a few moms group meetups at Sutter Roseville with her daughter, Kinlee, where we got to see lots of other babies and talk about life as new moms, and we spent a lovely afternoon out at the Roseville Fountains with Nicole and her daughter, Lila (neither of which I got photos of, grrrr).  I will forever cherish all the special time that Simon and I had together when I was home, and I will now look forward to the day when I will be able to stay at home with my love bug again.

 

learning the bass with Daddy

monkey business

silly baby

If I could stop time to keep my baby boy from growing up, I might seriously consider it.  But then again, as I keep saying, it is so fun and rewarding to see Simon achieve something new.  I haven't talked about it much yet, but I've of course been signing American Sign Language (ASL) to our boy.  I believe in the concept of Baby Signs, but am signing the true ASL signs instead of modifying them.  Naturally, I began with the sign MILK around 2 months, when I was sure he'd be able to see clearly enough and pay attention to me while producing the sign.  After a few months of repetition, Simon is now producing the sign on his own, first signing MILK during a feeding (nursing and bottle), then signing it when he was fussy and most likely actually hungry, and now sometimes signing it arbitrarily, like when he's being changed.  I'm now showing him the sign CHANGE for diaper time and getting dressed, and he is somewhat starting to show me that he seems to be getting an idea of what it means by calming down after I sign it, although he is no where close to replicating the sign himself.  Which is fine... because trying to keep up with his constant rolling/crawling attempts, hair pulling, object grabbing, reaching for Mommy, and big smiles when Daddy comes home is sometimes almost too much for my heart to handle!