Half a year has passed already. It has been a whirlwind with all the stuff we have gone through in his short life. But he has been a good boy and just goes with the flow. Granted, he's a baby and doesn't have much choice, but still. 🙂
Alex has had a pretty big month. Eating more food (and eating it more quickly), eating (semi)solid, sleep training, no more pacifier…being 6 months old is brutal at our house. Most of these happened in the last week. 😉
He loves his new solid food. He kept yelling at me to give him more rice cereal. He didn't really care for the sweet potatoes, but had a repeat yelling match at me over applesauce. Also, I gave him a fast nipple on his bottle and he can suck down 6 ounces of milk in 6 minutes! It took a couple bottles of gagging at the faster food, but he definitely has the hang of it now.
Last week, I had Alex taking his naps in his bed and un-swaddled. He needed to get used to sleeping on his stomach. I kept things the same at bedtime. Then by the weekend, when I got hardcore, he was ready. I fed him and put him to bed awake (so he knows his surroundings in case he wakes up). Then I let him cry himself (self-soothe) to sleep. If he woke up in the middle of the night, I didn't get up to feed or change him. Some people may choose to do this, but at 6 months, they don't need to be fed at night, so I choose not to. So the first night he slept from 7:30-730. I can't complain. The second night went pretty well, too. He gets really tired around 6:00, but I don't let him nap anymore, so he's good and tired at bedtime. He cried a few minutes at bedtime a couple nights, but he hasn't put up much of a fight since. And in the mornings he wakes up and is happy and playing in his crib. One more baby, successfully sleeping through the night.
Today, I took Alex to his 6 month checkup. The doc says he is doing great and growing like he should. He is 17lbs, 7.5oz and 26.5in. long. He's about 50th% for both. He's in mostly 9 month pjs now. He also got his shots and was a trooper. He cried for a second then was happy as could be and went back to chewing on his hands.
The girls still just love him. They love getting him toys and Dannie loved giving him his paci and was devastated when she couldn't anymore. I had to explain that he was a big boy now. She still tried, but when I say no, she tells me “Alex is big boy.” It's really sweet.
We read books before bedtime with the girls and we have started to have Alex read books with them. He loves the pictures and likes trying to eat all the pages. I like that they are all involved in bedtime together and it also helps keep Alex from getting too tired before he gets put to bed.
We are working on Alex sitting upon his own. He wants to and loves being upright, but just isn't strong enough to sit on his own yet, he keeps falling over. But we are working on it. And he used to roll all over, but then decided he doesn't want to anymore. No matter how much I spread out his toys, he just kicks his legs and burrows his face in the blanket. But he is all over his crib, so I know he is capable, he just doesn't want to. Stubborn boy.
So our baby boy is a big boy now. He has changed so much and is a chatty (yell-y) little thing. But he is so happy and smiles and giggles all the time. Before I know it, we will be planning his birthday party. Happy half birthday little monster!
