Six Months

Two weeks ago Jesse reached the big six-month mark. He no longer feels like a little baby to us. Each month I think to myself, "This stage he is at is the best...I don't think it could get any better than this". And each time I am wrong, because each new month proves to be more fun and exciting than the last. Here's what Jesse is up to at six months:

• He is sitting up really well. I still surround him with pillows just to be safe, but he rarely falls over. He really loves sitting up and being able to select the toys he wants to play with (or rather, chew on). He is noticeably more content by himself now that he can sit up.
• He can get up on his hands and knees for maybe a couple seconds, and will scoot around the living room like this.
• We noticed his first tooth coming in a week ago, and the second one is now visible, too. Thus, he wants to chew on EVERYthing in his reach. Our hands, our legs, strangers' fingers, high chairs and tables at restaurants (yuck!), keys, and of course, all his toys. Unfortunately, the teething process does seem to be causing him quite a bit of pain. We had three pretty awful nights this past week, where he seemed to wake up constantly for much of the night. We couldn't get him to settle back down, which is unusual for him. We must be pretty dense parents, because after three nights of this, it finally hit us that his teeth were probably the culprit. We gave him some Tylenol the next night before bed, and we didn't hear a peep out of him until 5 a.m. Tylenol works wonders! I also got him some teething tablets to use during the day and in the middle of the night if he wakes up, and those seems to be helpful, too.
• He still loves his books. They kept him happy many a time on the long ride down to Houston. His favorite now is probably "Brown Bear, Brown Bear" and he never fails to smile at the goldfish. We've been going to the library and checking out lots of board books for him so that we aren't reading the same ones over and over and over again.
• He still loves being sung to, as well, and he especially likes songs with motions, like the "Itsy Bitsy Spider" and "Where in Thumbkin?". I can also turn on "Wheels on the Bus" in the car if he starts to get fussy, and he immediately stops crying.
  
• Bedtime these days is anywhere between 6 and 6:30. He really can't make it any later than that without being super cranky. He usually wakes in the morning between 6 and 6:30, although this past week it has been earlier because I think his mouth is in pain and the medicine is wearing off.
  
• He's still taking three naps a day, but I can tell that he is getting better at stretching the time between his naps. Right now, two of those naps are fairly short (45 minutes) and one (either the second or third nap) is longer (anywhere from an hour and 15 minutes to two or two and a half hours).
  
• He's become quite a babbler and says lots of "ma ma" and "da da" and "ba ba", although I know he doesn't yet associate any meaning with those sounds.

At his six month check-up he weighed in at 19 pounds, 12 ounces (90th percentile) and measured 27.5 inches (also 90th percentile). He's still a big boy, but his growth is slowing down a little bit, which is good news, because we are starting to feel a bit decrepit around here from hauling around all that weight.

I'll end this post with a confession: I think I may have officially qualified for the bad Mom of the year award this past week. Wednesday morning I sat Jesse way back in the corner of the couch and sat down right next to him. As I proceeded to check my e-mail, I looked away and next thing I knew I heard a very loud THUD and Jesse had landed on the floor in front of the couch. He must have basically somersaulted off, because of where his head landed. I felt SO BAD. He cried a little, but I honestly was shocked that he didn't cry anymore than he did. I called James freaking out and he came up from downstairs, but by the time he got here, Jesse was all smiles and giggles. Let's just say that I learned my lesson, and won't be taking my eyes off of him for even a second now. It could have been much worse than it was.