“Tastes like chicken” now means something to you as you officially became an omnivore this week with chicken and mixed vegetables. So far, all signs point to you getting Daddy’s would-prefer-to-be-carnivore genes.
Also new to your palette recently include strawberries (these were good on the way in…), cauliflower, sno peas, nectarines, butternut squash, eggplant, turnips, turnip greens, kiwi, corn, and tofu.
A very unofficial, yet very important American holiday is the Super Bowl where the champions of the National Football Conference and the American Football Conference compete for the Vince Lombardi trophy. For most Americans, this day means indulging in classic American finger foods, piling lots of people around a TV screen, watching the game (if one cares about the outcome), and watching the commercials (if one could care less about the outcome/football in general).
You fell into the category of Americans who cried much of the game…albeit probably more about teething than the 49ers’ loss to the Ravens, or the power outage in the 3rd quarter, or the commentators’ continuous prattle about the power outage’s effect on momentum. Hopefully next year, you (and therefore Mommy and Daddy) will find the Super Bowl more interesting and enjoyable.
Your newest adventure has begun: solids self-feeding. Daddy and Mommy put a few banana-flavored star-shaped baby cereal puffs on your high chair tray. You grabbed them, of course, but weren’t sure what to do from there. Then Daddy put one in your mouth, and as it turned to mush, the light bulb went off. More tray-to-mouth followed with varying degrees of success. Some simply used their water absorbent/dissolvable properties to turn to mush on your hands. Many landed on your lap. A few even made it to the floor where Jamie began her own new adventure: eating food that falls from baby’s chair.
There is only so much bubbles can do. This week you continue the up and downs from your usual happy self to “teething Alonzo” who only wants to be held–by Mommy, doesn’t want to eat his bottle, and cannot seem to get comfortable. Mommy and Daddy pulled out a new weapon in their soothing arsenal: bubble bath. You enjoyed swatting the bubbles under the water with your hands and the warmth also helps a little to settle you down. After a stressful day with you, perhaps Daddy could use some bubbles too.
In order to move forward, you have to let go a little bit.
This is a scary life lesson you are learning as you try to crawl. You get up on your hands and knees with no difficulties. You rock back and forth with great enthusiasm. You even inch your knees forward or slide back on your knees pushing off with your hands. What is frustrating you so much is that in order to move yourself forward, you will have to pick up one of your hands…and you aren’t comfortable doing that yet. This means that Mommy and Daddy have to worry about you rolling over off of the bed or changing table, or scooching yourself into a corner of your crib backwards and not being able to get out. Mommy and Daddy have tried to show you how but have concluded that this is just one lesson, like many, that you’ll have to learn for yourself.
Mommy and Daddy had been expecting that when you started solid foods, you would resist the solids and want your bottle. For the first few months, you inhaled both. Now, you drink an ounce or two at a time and decide you have better things to do (solids, on the other hand, are still inhaled, especially fruit). This has made Mommy and Daddy a little anxious to know if you’re getting enough food; it also means that instead of six feedings a day, you have something like 14 mini-feedings. Not even Hobbits have names for all of those.
Mommy and Daddy feel pretty good about themselves when you fall asleep between 8:30 and 9 with little fuss, and sleep peacefully through till 6. This last week, we have learned the wisdom of not associating our self-worth with your sleep behaviors. We put you to bed on your back in the middle of your crib. Several times at night you wake us up crying because you have flipped onto your stomach and scooted backwards into one of the sides of your crib; you can’t move the way you want to (i.e. crawling forward) and you are awake and unhappy about it. Or maybe it’s gas…or teething…or nasal congestion…whatever the reason, crib time is changing.
Today you attended your first birthday party, in this case a combined party for a 3-year-old and 1-year-old from the stay-at-home parents’ meet up group. The party consisted of play time at an indoor play park (conveniently located at the back of an intimidating industrial park maze) followed by snack/cake time. To you, it was a great time to practice sitting up on your own, mouth a few new objects (not all of them toys), and watch parents scramble around a packed room picking up food from the buffet counter, coordinating napkins, plates, food and utensils for squirmy toddlers, and trying to talk over the noise to other parents. Mommy and Daddy sat safely against a wall with you and only ventured into the fray for munchies and to lend a hand to parents of multiple munchkins. They thought the Angry Bird cake was very creative and delicious…and were very grateful that the birthday parties you will really care about are at least another year or two away…
You have now officially graduated to a high chair for eating and hanging out at the dining table; your vibrating bouncy chair is being retired to very occasional floor duty. Your chair is an old school wooden one (antique store sale) with a tray that comes up and over your head, and a leather snap safety leg-divider. Daddy added some of his own safety engineering with a Mustang replica seatbelt that goes around you and the back of the chair. A phone book serves as your booster seat.
Like all babies, one of your new favorite pastimes is conducting theory of gravity experiments by pushing your toys (and anything else) off of your high chair tray and onto the floor. Sometimes you even look right at Mommy or Daddy and smile when you do this as if you are the most endearing baby in the world. Daddy’s next engineering marvel: a strap to keep your chair toys from hitting the floor…
Today was your 6 month doctor appointment at which you were 26.5 inches long (50th percentile), 15 lbs 1 oz (10th percentile), and had a head circumference of 16.75 in (15th percentile). Your pediatrician was quite happy with your eating and developmental progress, which makes Mommy and Daddy very happy. You were very not happy about your immunizations and flu shot.
For Christmas, Tia Antje bought you a growth chart that compares your length to the length of other objects. Here is your selection so far: at birth, you were as long as the world’s most expensive teddy bear, at 2 months, you were as long as the original space hopper (not sure what this is…may be a British thing), at 4 months, a standard parrot standing on an average bulldog’s back, and now at 6 months, a red fox. Just remember, part of life is about keeping things in perspective.