Well I suppose now that Henry is 7 months old I better write his 6 month update! So much growing has happened during the month of September! Henry seems like a different child now!
September flew by at a lightning pace. We were busy with play-dates, trips to St Louis and Minneapolis/ St Paul, visits from friends, running in races (the Maple Leaf 5 mile!), going to Oktoberfest, and enjoying some fabulous fall weather! Looking back on the past month and reading over where Henry was when I wrote his 5 month check in is almost comical because so much has changed in such a short period of time!
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| 9/8/12 - I'm 6 months! |
One area where things changed, and they constantly seem to be changing is Henry's sleep habits. I wrote in his 5 month update that he would sleep from 8pm-4am... and some friends of mine contacted me asking what were we doing differently to get him to sleep so great? Well it must have just been a good week, because since that statement we have not seen many repeats! I think if I write it in the blog Henry will make me eat my words, so I have to be careful what I say! =)
In all honesty though, Henry did go through a very ROUGH patch of sleeping right around his 6 month "birthday". This lasted for maybe 2-3 weeks. Now we are in a much better place, but I know that Henry is just a sensitive sleeper. He is sensitive to travel and to sleeping in new places (which I think was in part why he had a hard time a few weeks ago) but he is also very sensitive to getting overly-tired, so it is important to make sure that he is getting enough naps and is going to bed at a reasonable time.
I used to think that now that Henry is not a newborn and now that he has learned how to fall asleep on his own he should be sleeping so much better. Well the truth is, he IS sleeping better, in that he's not getting up every 2 hours to nurse, but he's not sleeping through the night. He is still getting up once or twice a night to nurse. I don't think I expected him to be sleeping through the night at this stage, but based on things that I've read written by sleep "experts" I guess I assumed he would be able to sleep a little bit longer without eating. On a good night though, he does go 7-8 hours, which is fabulous! He usually sleeps about 5-7 hours without eating... so he's not sleeping through the night, but that is ok.
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| 9/8/12- 6 month birthday! |
Henry continues to grow, but his pace has slowed down just a bit. At his 6 month check up on September 12, 2012 he weighed 16 lbs 14oz. He was 2' 1.75" long and his head circumference was 43.5 cm. He dropped a bit in the percentiles, but our pediatrician was not concerned as he is still a growing and healthy baby! To put this in perspective, at his four month check up he was 15 lbs 8 oz (61% tile for weight), 2' 0.65" long (38% tile length), and head circumference 42.5 cm (55% tile for head circumference). As of 9/12/12 he was in the 36.5% tile for weight, 23.6 % tile for length, and 41 %tile for head circumference. We went back to the pediatrician on September 26, 2012 for some more vaccinations and Henry was 17 lbs 5 oz, so my guess is by now he is probably around 17 lbs 10 oz and getting close to 18 lbs!
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| Its getting a lot harder to get these photos with the blue- bear! |
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| 9/11/12- 6 months! |
One of the many big changes for Henry when he turned 6 months was he started "eating" solid foods. Initially Henry was not too keen on eating solid foods. Henry is a particular guy and he is very independent. He does not like to be fed with a spoon, and prefers to try to feed himself. Just in the past week Henry has started to turn a corner in eating solid foods and seems to be more willing to actually eat things! This is very exciting for him and for Lj and I, as we have been trying lots of different ways to get Henry to open his mouth to try some food! We've tried letting him feed himself with a spoon (not very effective), we've tried letting him feed himself by using his hands (also not very effective... and both methods quite messy!), we've tried feeding him with a spoon, we've tried alternating letting him drink water or breast-milk and then trying to sneak some food in, I've tried making veggie smoothies for him to drink from a sippy cup or bottle, and letting him drink food from the bowl! He finally discovered that he likes to drink oatmeal from a bowl this weekend, AND that he can hold the bowl up to his mouth by himself (or with limited help) and since this discovery he has been much more excited about eating solid foods!
Henry's first food was rice cereal mixed with a lot of breast-milk Henry did not eat very much of it, which is a good thing because recent research has indicated high levels of arsenic in rice products, so we decided to switch to oatmeal. Henry has also tried avocado, peas, green beans, sweet potatoes, and bananas. So far Henry seems to enjoy oatmeal, bananas, green beans, and peas more so than sweet potatoes and avocados.
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| 9/8/12- first tastes of solids! |
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| Yuck! Get this sh*t out of my mouth! |
Henry is also a boy on the move. Since his 6 month birthday he has been working on crawling! He loves to get up onto his knees and arms and rocks back and forth. He's even added a few hops in there, but hasn't actually become mobile yet. Good thing, because we still need to baby proof our house!
Henry's personality continues to emerge and he is full of joy and exuberance! Henry has strong opinions about his likes and dislikes, but he is fascinated with the world around him and can find joy in the most mundane objects and situations. Henry has begun to really mimic our faces and expressions, making him so much more animated now. He also continues to explore his verbal range making all kinds of great noises. LJ and I are pretty convinced that Henry is currently developing his own language. Henry will repeatedly say "wa wa" very emphatically which we are pretty sure either means that he wants to nurse or that he wants water... or maybe neither. At any rate, his "talking" is pretty entertaining!
Henry continues to love to be outdoors. We try to find time to go outside at least for a little bit every day.
Henry is a wonderful little man! I don't know what I'd do without him! It's hard to this mama to believe that he's already half a year old!
