Six Months Old!

 Developmental Milestones this Month: Andrew can do all of the following age-appropriate developmental things: everything from month four, month five and sit unassisted (supported with his hands) for over two minutes, stand holding onto something/someone, work/scoot to get a toy that is out of reach, pass an object from one hand to another, look for dropped objects, feed himself Mum-mums (rice crackers), creep across the floor, and pick up objects with him thumb and finger. 

• He is working on his bottom two teeth (and has been for the last two months), I'd expect them to come out any day now.  You can see them right under the surface.
• He still isn't making much disgustable sounds (like vowels and consonant combos like "ah-goo"), but has been more verbal this week.  I plan to ask the doctor about this when we see him on Tuesday.

Physical Growth this Month: We've been to the doctor's office so many times this month, we've been able to see Andrew's growth pretty well.  His official six month appointment isn't until Tuesday.

• Sept 29: 18 lbs, 3.1 oz, 26 inches long
• Sept 19: 17 lbs, 11.6 oz
• Sept 10: 17 lbs, 7.2 oz
• Sept 6: 17 lbs, 4.8 oz

Doctor's Trips: Andrew's entire sixth month of life has been about being sick, trying to get better, and seeing doctors.  He's been to after hours peds twice, his regular doctor once, the pedi GI, and x-ray imaging. He's gone from a cold, to brochiolitis, to sinus infection, to severe reflux that could be the cause of the other respiratory stuff.  He's done weeks of breathing treatments with albuterol, two rounds of prednisone for croup, a round of amoxcillin, and now is on prilosec instead of zantac (which I am not sold on).

Things Andrew likes: Andrew likes everything to do with people.  He wants people to make eye contact with him; he craves their attention.  He has started staring at people in public, seemingly waiting for them to smile back at him.  When they do, he gives them a huge grin back. 

• This jumperoo is his favorite place to be "put," but his favorite thing ever is to be on the ground and able to move around. 
• Grandma T bought his a pink elephant that sings and lights up and he smiles at it more than any other small toys. 
• Pretty much anything that he can put in his mouth grabs his attention--including mom's cell phone and the computer.

Things Andrew doesn't like: Andrew still HATES and screams when I put nose drops in to help suck the boogers out, but only if Mommy does it.  If Dad does it, he's happy as a clam.  Andrew has also started "screaming" when he's ignored too long.

Sleeping: With all the different "sickness" that we've had here this month, we've had some sleep issues too.  At first, Andrew was too stuffy to sleep through the night and would need to moved from his crib to the little lamb or swing half way through the night to help him breath.  Then, when he started having intense coughing fits, he would wake himself up throwing up from coughing so hard.  Dave and I took turns sleeping in the nursery and didn't sleep "well" for almost three weeks.  Finally, after the final round of antibiotics, Andrew started feeling better and the magic sleep returned to our house!  He's sleeping from 8 pm-5:30ish (nine and a half hours). 

• Naps at daycare are still not going as well as hoped.  He usually takes two thirty to forty-five minute naps (remember at home he was taking two, two hour naps) and comes home exhausted.  During the week, he usually comes home and sleeps from 4-6 pm.  During the weekend, he skips the evening nap.
• The swaddle needs to go away too because Andrew can now roll over with one arm swaddled. The last two nights he's sleep fine without it, but naps have been a different story.  I swaddled just his body and that seemed to work pretty well.

Eating: Andrew eats 8-9 ounces every four hours during the day. He gets between 32-36 oz every day (exactly the same as last month).  The biggest change has been his "real" food.  He eats 4 tbsp of oatmeal for breakfast at daycare and another 4 tbsp of oatmeal and 1-2 oz of food for dinner. 

• His food so far: peas, sweet potatoes, squash, pears, and bananas. 
• His ultimate favorite right now is squash, but as always, he'll pretty much each anything in front of him.
• He does not show a preference between my homemade food (peas, sweet potatoes, bananas) and the organic jars (Earth's Best) that I bought.

Playing: Andrew's idea of playing is moving.  He's much rather be on the floor than anywhere else and will scoot from one toy to another that he can put in his mouth.  He also pushes, pulls, and scoots himself to touch the chairs and couch.  He loves when Mommy or Daddy stand above him and tickle him, he laughs and laughs.  He's started playing peek-a-boo this month, along with loving the songs of itsy-bitsy spider and wheels on the bus. 

Diapers: This month we'd been in size 3s the entire time--we've used 256 diapers. 

Clothing: All his 3-6 month clothes fit, but I'm bored of them.  I have been working this week to get all the 6-9 month clothes ready to go.  Most of the stuff that we have are long sleeves and pants, so with fall coming we're going to need to pack up the shorts. 

Firsts for this month