Take Me Out To The Ball Game

We took The Boy to his first baseball game. And the Royals actually won a game! We had a blast and he was pretty good. He fell asleep in the 7th & slept through the fireworks at the end of the game.

The other morning when I was changing him, he wasn't done pooping and with his diaper off, he actually made two turd shaped turds. (As opposed to the wedges of poop that get formed because of the diaper.)

He's starting to move around in the crib while he's sleeping. It's our fault. We were with friends who have a son 5 weeks younger than The Boy. They were telling us how he moves around all the time in his crib. We said how The Boy never moves an inch - wakes up exactly how you left him. Two or three days after that comment he wakes up once on his stomach with his head at the foot of the crib and once sideways.

There's been a couple times in the past few days where I've been able to sooth The Boy when The Mom could not. It's kind of nice to be able to sooth him, but I do feel bad because I know how terrible it feels to not be able to sooth him.

He likes to roll from back to front, front to back, back to front, etc. etc. etc. But so far he just does it back and forth and stays in one spot. As soon as he realizes he can keep rolling in the same direction - look out!

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On The Charts

6 month check -
Damn near 21 lbs., which puts him at 93rd percentile (as opposed to >95%, which id what they've written every other time)

About 29 inches long, >95%

His head is about 17 inches, moving him up to 65th percentile

So we still have a giant baby, but he is averaging out some.

He had a different nurse that was slow with the shots. Not at all like the regular nurse that does all of them so fast that it's over before you know it.

We're embarassed to say his circimcision was stuck in one small spot. The doc fixed it with a little tug, but now it's irritated. Baths & diaper changes will be painful for all of us for a bit.

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Scrub Scrub Scrub

Bath time is getting harder. The Boy gets a bath pretty much every night before bed. Usually it's a sponge bath. He only gets a full tub bath once or twice a week. He just loves to roll over and wiggle and move and try to go, so the sponge baths are quite a challenge.

At tummy time, he really pushes himself off the ground with his arms. Sometimes it makes him go backwards. And he loves to spin spin spin in a circle. He even lifts his butt up sometimes and gets his knees part of the way under him. But when that happens he usually topples over onto his face. I'm sure it's still quite a ways off, but there is definite progress towards crawling.

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6 Months

The Boy is 6 months old today. Sometimes it seems like it's flown by. Other times it seems like he's always been here.

He's getting quite a bit of hair, relatively speaking. It's still very short and thin, but it's definitely filling in. But he really does still have that bald baby look going.

He loves to eat from a spoon. He seemed to be getting used to the green beans. He definitely loves the carrots & sweet potatoes & such. He likes the oatmeal cereal, too. He loves to scream at the top of his lungs inbetween bites.

He started shaking his head back and forth a little bit. I read that is normal, but it kind of bugs me for some reason.

Last night, we realized we've had The Dogs for 4 years.

Time's fun when you're having flies.

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Toast and Jam

While giving The Boy a bath tonight, he managed to get his foot in his mouth before I washed it off. Then I noticed he had quite a bit of toe jam. Yummy! Then I think he must have kicked himself in the mouth or something, because he got red in the face and started crying.

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Ravenous Savage

Like most babies, The Boy loves to put things in his mouth. But he does it with such excitement that it's a riot. He'll get done nursing and be sitting up with The Mom to burp and he'll reach out, grab whatever he can (usually a cheek and hair) and just shove her cheek/chin/nose/face/whatever in his mouth. And then he shakes his head from side to side like a wild animal feasting on prey.

The Boy tried green beans tonight. So far, not a big fan. But he wasn't real excited about the oatmeal at first, and now he loves it. So we'll try it a few more times and see what happens.

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It's Not Easy Being Yellow

I parted ways with The Family for the weekend, but apparently he went to sleep very easily and slept through the night. Sunday & Monday he also did well and tonight he went to sleep pretty easily. It seems like we've made significant progress and things seem to be going well. I hope it continues that way. I know teeth are coming soon and that will interrupt things a bit. Hopefully it will be limited impact.

He tried sweet potatoes over the weekend and he loves them. He's also pooping more often, so thanks for the advice to ditch the rice cereal. That may have played a part. The Parents As Teachers lady says she can tell when babies primarily eat "yellow" foods because the tips of their noses get a yellow tint to them. So I guess we'll try a green vegetable next, just in case she's not insane.

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Baby Steps

Well, let's see. He woke up at 5:30 and fussed and kicked for a while, but didn't actually need any attention. He fell back asleep about 6:30 and slept until about 7:20, at which time I left for work so I don't know what time The Wife actually went in and got him.

Seems like we're making positive progress. Slowly

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More About Sleep

He woke up at 4:45 am and put himself back to sleep fairly quickly. He woke up again about 5:45 am and only made it until about 6:15 or maybe 6:30 before he needed attention. But once The Wife fed him, he crashed back out for a while.

Tonight The Wife went to play volleyball. I was hoping he'd stay up till 7:30 pm, but he could only make it until about 7:20. He cried really hard for about 20 or 25 minutes and then went to sleep. It was harder for me to not pick him up with The Wife being gone and knowing I was the only one around.

I feel like we're making positive progress. I hope that trend continues.

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What's Your Sleep Number?

Well, he slept till 4 am last night. He fussed for a bit and then The Wife went and helped sooth him (just for a minute) and he slept again until 6. At that point, he was just giving a little fuss now and then, kicking his legs now and then and falling back asleep for a bit. He finally got up about 6:45. Overall, I'd say it went fairly well.

Tonight has been similar to last night so far, except he cried for a shorter period of time tonight. He seems to be asleep now, so I guess we'll see what happens tonight.

Oh, I've been meaning to share this. He has a little booster/high chair that straps to a regular chair. We usually pull him up to the table and he eats about the same time we do. The other night I pulled him up near the corner and when he kicked his leg he actually moved the kitchen table about 6 inches! Nearly spilled my glass of milk. It was pretty amusing.

I wish I got more than 2 - 3 hours a day with him during the week. It's just kind of a bummer to think about all that time I miss.

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Tough Love

The Boy had a massive diaper blowout yesterday. It was the first major blowout I've encountered since we started the rice cereal. We're really getting into some new textures & smells. And from what I understand, this is just the tip of the iceberg. I'm embarrassed to admit I couldn't get through it without gagging (maybe dry-heaving would be more accurate) several times. Maybe I'll eventually get used to it. I think I'd be okay if it was diaper contained. But this one was well over halfway up his back. I actually didn't know what to do at first. I was just coming up with a plan on how to deal with it when, thankfully, The Wife swooped in to help. The hard part was figuring out how to get his shirt off without spreading poop everywhere.

Then there's the sleeping. He hasn't ever consistently slept through the night. He's done it a few times, just not consistently. I'm no comfort to him at bedtime and in fact he usually gets more upset if I try to calm him than if I just leave him by himself. So they wife pretty much always puts him to bed. We've tried "Good Night, Sleep Tight" and "Sleeping Through The Night" and both have had limited success. He's seemed more cranky than normal lately (teething, perhaps?) and The Wife was at her wit's end last night so we got to a point where we decided we needed to let him cry it out. So he cried for a few minutes and then slept all night. We knew that was too easy. He was a bit off schedule today, and ended up falling asleep while nursing. So he woke up a little later and we thought he might need a burp. We got a couple small burps out and put him back down. He cried for a few minutes and quit. He woke up a few minutes later, cried hard for about 10 minutes and quit. He woke up a few minutes later and cried really really hard for about 15 - 20 minutes and quit. I'm sitting here now and he seems to be asleep, but he's rustling now and then. So I don't know what the night holds for us. It doesn't seem right to just let him cry, but we did check on him once or twice just to make sure he wasn't stuck or something. It's hard to do, and in fact, The Wife gets to a point where she can't listen. We know he's capable of doing it and it's just a matter of helping him learn how. None of the other options have worked, so I guess we'll try this. Sorry, buddy. We love you. We just don't know what else to try.

Luckily, I don't have enough readers to worry about too much hate mail.

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Just Keep Swimming, Swimming, Swimming

Yesterday, The Boy attended his buddy's One Year birthday party. There were a ton of people there. I think there were more kids than adults. It was fun. No, he didn't get cake or ice cream.

Today we went swimming at the YMCA for the 2nd time since he's been out of the womb. (He went several times with mommy in utero.) I think the best way to describe it is to say that he doesn't dislike it. He kicks his legs some and splashes a little, but not near as much as in the bath tub. I think he's kind of overwhelmed because it's loud and it echoes and there are a lot of people. I think it will just be a few more times before he really starts to have fun. He wears those "Little Swimmers" diapers with Nemo on the butt and he's got these little lifeguard shorts with a matching hat. And his life jacket just kind of swallows him up and if you couldn't see below the surface, all you'd see is his cute little face floating in the life jacket.

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MIRACLE!

We were hanging out with The Boy when he rolled over from his back to his stomach, got up on his knees like he was going to crawl, and then just stood up and took a couple steps towards me! It was amazing.

P.S. Check the date of the post

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Ask And Ye Shall Receive

I apologize for the lack of posts. I got a promotion and also was out of town for 3 days, so I've been busy.

I felt really bad about leaving The Boy & The Wife, but they did fine without me. Although they were quite happy to have me back.

It seems like The Boy does new things every day. He rolls over from his back to front all the time. He clearly wants to move when he sees something he wants to get. Sometimes it makes him pretty frustrated, but most of the time he spins in a circle, or scoots an inch or two. I've got to start baby-proofing soon. He was on the floor in the bathroom with us the other day and he spun himself around so he could reach the drawers and started trying to open them.

Oh, and he's sitting up like a champ. 30 seconds or longer at a time! The Wife is brilliant, she brought up one of our thick exercise mats and he practices sitting up on it. Most of the time we catch him, but when he does crash all the way over, those mats make for a cushy landing.

He eats at least 8 tablespoons of cereal (from a spoon) for dinner every night. We've got some fruits & veggies we're thinking of trying before too long.

A couple nights ago, we were giving him a sponge bath and he had all this goop in the folds of his neck. And he did NOT like having it cleaned. He just cried & cried. We felt bad, but it was so disgusting, it had to be done.

He's really slowed down on the weight gain. He's been hovering at 20 for almost a month. Yesterday he was 20.5. I think it's because he's so active now. Rolling over & wiggling & such. Still, he's a big boy for his age. I haven't measured his length, but darn if he doesn't even fit in the rocking chair. His head hangs over one arm with the feet hanging over the other.

He took a full bath last night. He kicked & splashed & had a blast.

We think he's teething some more. He has a bit more diaper rash than normal (although it's not too bad). He's drooling like crazy. And he chomped down on The Wife's finger and immediately started crying like it hurt.

He's only been pooping every 3-4 days. It has us a little worried, but we think maybe it's just because he's eating more cereal.

The Family joined the YMCA. The Wife has been going pretty regularly. They have baby sitting services for The Boy. The first time, the wife only got about 20 minutes into her workout before she got paged. On her way to the room, while she was still quite a way from the door, someone opened the door to leave and she heard him screaming. She was like, "That one's mine.". I guess he just screamed the whole time. But he's been doing great ever since. We got a family pass so we can use the pool.

We got new ear molds for his hearing aids. The old ones were so small they were just falling out. The problem is, I guess it's a common practice to "double-dip" ear molds for kids so they're a touch big and will last longer. But they're too big and don't fit well. I can tell this ear mold thing is going to be a pain.

I'll try to post more often, thanks for the comment.

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