6 months

T turned 6 months old. For his six month birthday, he got himself the flu.

Yup, that's how I felt about it, too.

But he's getting better, and even sick he was one of the mellower little dudes you've ever seen (we did his chair pictures after he'd been fever-free for a day. He still has the cough). We did pull the swing out of the basement, because he just wanted to move, constantly, and frankly, he's getting heavy! (18 lb by the bathroom scale - doctor's visit is next month when E goes in for his 3 year)

T's favorite occupation is EATING ALL THE THINGS!

You have a thing? I'd like to eat it! Please, can I eat that?

Please? Banilla does not, in fact, taste like vanilla, despite my brother's name for him. 
(her?)



You probably think I'm kidding, but I'm pretty sure I can teach T nouns by saying "Do you want to put it in your mouth? Then it's a noun."

See?

T had his first food somewhere in December - a piece of corn that he managed to swallow on the fourth try (oops, he wasn't supposed to have corn... ahhh, parenting). He loves broccoli, pears and apples, and would love avocados if they didn't end up stuck to his soft palate. Bread does the same thing, but he'll totally forgive bread. It promised not to do it next time, right? He'll take any carbs - pancakes would be nice, please? Over the holidays he enjoyed french toast, although I don't think Ray liked that it slowed down diaper production...

Ray made T his own low-salt steak and he sucked the juice out of that thing until it was just leather. Then he asked for more...

This week we went to Protos for pizza, and he was so enamored with the flatbread panini that I gave him some of my pizza crust. I couldn't figure out why he burst out crying until I got near the crust myself and realized that there was a hotspot of cayenne - oops. He was motivated to figure out how to drink water from a glass, though, so yay!

So, in list form: peas, pears, broccoli, apples, green beans, avocados, banana, bread, pancakes, french toast, flatbread, steak, oatmeal, bread bread bread... And if it's not obvious, we're sort of skipping the whole "puree" thing and just letting him eat whatever is on the menu and safe (pretty much just cooked food, no added salt or preservatives), cut big enough that he can hold it for himself.

To help this all along, he has two sharp little teeth - both incisors (lower left appeared January 5, lower right appeared January 9). He was, as in all things, reasonably calm about teething.

T is rolling decently, although he'll almost always go left, so he doesn't daisy-chain, just flops back and forth, mostly to keep up with the action around him. He's getting pretty strong and can almost sit, but his heavy head takes him out eventually. He'd love to stand up, if he could just coordinate his arms to hold him there...and his legs to get him up. But could you just do that for him? Thanks! (for the baby book - he made it from his back to his belly on December 5, front to back regularly by January 5)

Yes, he's pretty darn good at letting you know what he wants. I came into his room in the morning to find him talking to himself. He gave me a huge smile when he saw me, but when I picked him up he just started staring at his crib. I put him back down and he happily went back to playing with the rings hanging in his crib. Thanks, mom - see you in 10.

He's vocal, although usually quiet. He LOVES to make little raspberries (sort of like you're blowing on a brass horn, no tongue) and will be your friend if you'll talk to him that way - although perhaps that's just because he's happy if you let him get a word in edgewise. He has started to sing to himself, and he occasionally will go off in these loud, disgruntled sounding groans, but he's just playing around, seeing what he can do. When he's actually upset, he makes little grunts, like a tractor firing short a cylinder (Ray's analogy, not mine).

He'll laugh, for peakaboo, or if you tickle him, but there is still one person who can entertain him, distract him, and get big huge belly laughs.

Yes, he'll do anything for E. He LOVES E. Fortunately it's mutual.

A couple of nights ago Ray was home and we were all getting the boys ready for bed. We had a last few minutes of playing around in E's room, all four of us together, and it was a great window into how cool this two boy family can be. I almost can't wait until T is a little bigger and can keep up.

But I can.

He's pretty awesome exactly as he is right now.

Love you, Tigheron!

(See more chair pictures here.)