.5 years

My goodness Mr. man, we've done it. We've made it through 1/2 of a year together and if you can believe it, I think we even love each other more than when we first met. You my sweet baby, are just a dream right now. No teeth yet to complicate life with teething, no crawling yet to complicate endless amounts of snuggles, holding, and lap time without you wriggling away from me, and you've discovered the joy of sleeping on your tummy.

I just absolutely adore this stage right now. I could end the post right now, but of course we need to chat about changes this month.

Since we left off last month, you were just starting rice cereal, but now you are pretty much a culinary expert because we have expanded your pallet to include avocado, peas, green beans, prunes, pears, sweet potatoes, squash, and bananas. umm, you love to eat. There have been days where it has been a struggle to get you to nurse, but then I'll give you some solids and you will eat like I haven't fed you in days. I've tried giving you a cup of water which you initially think is a fabulous idea, but then in your excitement you end up gulping way too much and choke. We'll keep trying, I know you'll get it.

This month has also been my favorite because you are starting to interact with me and give me some indications that you enjoy my flailing that I call dancing, my weird animal noises, and when your dad and I kiss you all over. I had one of my most favorite parenting moments the other night. You were laying on the ground on your side and I was laying next to you and you reached over and grabbed my nose (hard!) I snorted a little bit and you apparently thought this was the best game ever. You laughed and laughed and laughed, and I laughed and cried along with you. You love faces. You're always reaching out to grab our cheeks, necks, noses, etc.

We also discovered that you looooooooove being wrapped up in a sheet and bounced around (not sure how to describe this without sounding like a child abuser). You're also starting to get really quick on reaching for things. We have to be careful because in a second, you can have our entire dinner plate all over you. You can bend really far when sitting to reach for different things to put in your mouth.

I have two favorite changes this month. One is your excitement noise. When you get excited, you start breathing so heavily that it sounds like you almost can't breathe. Sometimes you pant, sometimes you squeal, but it's always hilarious. My second favorite change is your language. Up until a couple weeks ago, you would make one noise over and over again. Out of the blue you've started to add in all sorts of different sounds. We've heard d noises, words that sound like hi, and lots of b noises. We're already making bets on what your first word will be. You seem to get super chatty when we undress you and you are rolling around on a bed, or when you are in the jumperoo. Your obsession with your jumperoo continues. In fact, this love affair has probably gotten even stronger. You've reached the last level and I fear the day that you are done with this toy.

You roll from your back to your stomach all the time, and just a few days ago remembered how to roll from your stomach to back. You only roll in one direction which gets you really far, but you can't figure out how to come back. You still don't love tummy time, although you are able to push really high into the air.

sleep. do we really have to talk about it? Not really. We don't get much of it :) Naps are still hit and miss and our nights are pretty random. We FINALLY got you out of the swaddle at night and have put away the exercise ball for good. There were days that I never thought it would happen. I'm still swaddling you with one arm out for naps because that time is so precious to me I'm afraid to mess anything up :) one day. ok. I talked about it, now for a cute picture.

You are getting to be such a big boy when it comes to playing. You're favorite toys this month are the jumbo knob puzzle, tails book (of course), alphabet stacking blocks, the pop up animal toy, and the farmer says toy.

We've noticed that you are starting to pinch toys and it seems like you know exactly what you want to do with them, but then get frustrated because you can't manipulate them exactly like you want them to. We've also seen some of your first temper tantrums. I'm sorry, but sucking on the shower liner is not my idea of fun and letting you dissolve a paper tag in your mouth isn't quite safe. You love to make raspberries with your lips when you're really studying something seriously. One of my other favorite parenting moments this last month is during breakfast. Normally I'm checking email while you are in the jumperoo and sometimes you'll get quiet and I'll look down and you're staring at me with a huge grin just seein what I'm up to. You have a way of taking our breath away you are so cute.

Love you SO much big boy.

And for comparisons...

Lastly my sweet boy, your hair is starting to lay flat. tear