6 Months Old

Clearly thrilled to be 6 months old...

Poor Bubba was tired and not in the mood to be photographed as a smiling baby. :-)

He's still dang cute, though.

It's cute - every birthday month that I photograph Marek, Ellison has to grab her camera and take a zillion shots just like her Mama.

At 6 months, Marek is sitting up unassisted, standing up by himself while holding onto things, rolling back and forth, and he scootches his bod all over the place in his crib.  Bedtimes are a little challenging, only because you have to start him off in one corner, knowing he'll end up in the completely opposite corner, sometimes getting himself stuck (THANK YOU, Alisha, for your story about crib bumpers!  I am SOOOO glad we switched to a breathable bumper until he's older!!!)

Marek recognizes his name now, and likes to make a lot of monkey noises.  He has started saying, "Nya,la,da,da,da,da,da" a lot - especially when hitting the wall and wanting to either eat or sleep.  He's still very chill, and seems to just take everything in.  He's not an extremely vocal baby.  He grabs and grasps toys and objects (especially hair) really well.  He scoots himself along the floor in a walker, too.

His two little bottom teeth keep us on our toes thinking they're going to pop through at any moment, but they haven't yet!   This feels like the longest teething stretch ever.  Marek still sucks his thumb when he sleeps, and has recently started to plop it in his mouth to suck when he's tired and sitting in his high chair, too.  I still love it. :-)  He drinks really well from a sippy cup and from a straw, and is now taking 2-3 meals of solid food a day.  So far so good with all the fruits and veggies, though I don't think peaches rank high on his list yet.  I'm still nursing Marek, though it's strange to have that decreasing a little now that he eats more food.

Marek sleeps well at night, usually going to bed around 7pm (sometimes earlier, sometimes later) and waking up once anywhere between 3-7am, when I just nurse him and he goes right back to sleep until it's time to wake up for the day.  I'm thankful for that, but for him it means that he doesn't take long naps during the day.

Marek giggles when you make an animated "surprise" face at him, and he'll start giggling as soon you pretend you're gonna go in to nuzzle his neck, even if you don't make any skin contact.  He's ticklish if you pinch his inner thighs just so.  He still loves being sung "action" songs to, and likes Peek-A-Boo.

Each month brings more and more fun with our little "Butters" as Sissy has been calling him as of late.  We are dumbfounded that in the next 6 months he will be a year old already.  Yikes!

[July 18, 2011]

As an update, Marek had his 6 month check-up at the pediatrician's today.  He weighs 21 lbs, 3oz (95th percentile), and he is 26.5 inches long (?45th percentile).  Dr. Dees questioned the way he was measured and made the girl do it again, but she measured him the same again.  It's bizarre since he's been in the 90th percentile for length all along, but Dr. Dees said the length and head circumference are subjective, and it depends on the person doing the measurements.  So who know what that's all about, but those are his stats now.  His noggin' is in the 60th percentile.  Dr. Dees was impressed at his body control - being able to sit up unassisted.  We are very thankful for a happy, sweet, healthy baby!

[July 25, 2011]