I’m a few days late in writing this down, but James is now six months old! It feels like a lot has changed since last month, which is pretty exiting. The two main ones are that he has started sampling non-milk food and that he’s probably just a couple of days away from crawling!

He loves getting up on his hands and knees and rocking back and forth, and hes managed to move his knees forward a few times already. He hasn’t quite figured out the hand motion yet, but he’s getting there! While he’s figuring that out, he’s conquered the army crawl, and he can wiggle his way from one spot to another in no time. I suppose we’ve reached the point where we actually need to baby-proof.

He can also sit up unsupported for brief spurts of time, although he’s liable to tumble backwards since he hasn’t quite figured out that there isn’t anything behind him when he’s in that position. Based on the fact that he’s nearly mobile, it looks like we’ll skip the potted plant phase entirely…sitting and crawling are happening simultaneously rather than sequentially. Elise did that as well, so it’s not like this is unfamiliar territory!

Sometimes you just need a break, you know? Also, look at all his hair! I realize that “all the hair” is relative, considering some babies are born with significantly more hair than he has now, but it’s fun to see it starting to come in.

James is still very early in his food-eating experiences, but we’ve checked off all the major allergens so far: he’s successfully eaten eggs, strawberries, and peanut butter with no reaction, and he’s also sampled red pepper, guacamole, a taco (which he loved), broccoli, pork carnitas, oatmeal, plain yogurt, sour cream, and a bit of bread. He may have also licked some bacon at one point. Essentially, he gets a little taste of whatever we have on our plates at every meal. He still hasn’t really gotten used to having anything with texture in his mouth, so his reactions are pretty amusing.

These days, it’s very hard to get him to stay on his back, which is particularly challenging during diaper changes and (to a lesser extent) baths. He just wants to practice crawling so much that he doesn’t have the patience to stay facing up, so I’ve resorted to handing him whatever object is both hold-able and nearby whenever I change him. Frequent objects have included diaper cream, a tennis-ball-sized plastic Playmobile tunnel piece, and a 1/2 cup measure. Aside from the diaper cream, I’m not sure why any of those things are nearby, but they hold his attention long enough for me to change his diaper like a ninja. Thankfully while he’s taking a bath, splashing his feet distracts him enough that his rollover speed is slightly slower.

If you want to make him laugh, either kiss his cheeks or brush his teeth. Both of these will reliably produce contagious giggling. I can’t wait to see what he can do by next month!

Woodstock Writings