On December 19 we went in for Mason's 6 month appointment! Here are his six month stats:
28" long (92 percentile)
17.5 lbs (50 percentile)
At six months, he has mastered rolling over in both directions. He still doesn't love being on his stomach very long, though. He has one tooth. He can sit up pretty well on his own. He loves scratching anything with texture, and wants to chew on everything. He babbles a lot more, and laughs a lot more. He also gets pretty cranky when he is tired and cries more than he ever has before. He loves playing with my hair and loves touching my face, especially while he is feeding or falling asleep. He loves baths now and has learned to kick to splash water everywhere. He has also started being more cuddly than he used to. When he gets tired he grabs both sides of my face and snuggles his face next to mine, or sometimes he just puts his head on my shoulder and climbs closer. It is always short lived, but it is cute. He still only likes to eat squash and applesauce. He falls asleep easily but does not stay asleep, still waking up every 1.5 - 3 hours. He has started to sleep on his side, and migrates around the crib as he's sleeping. He hasn't shown any signs of separation anxiety yet, but he is scared of my dad. He has started crying when he sees him and it takes awhile to warm up to him. He has started standing on his legs instead of just bouncing all of the time. He is still super curious about everything and wants to be in the middle of whatever I'm doing.
I'm sure there are plenty of other things I could write, but that's all I can think of for now. He seems to learn new things every day, and he is constantly changing!
Well, this little guy got his first tooth on Saturday! Damen discovered it while I was napping. I was surprisingly excited about it. Partly because it is a milestone, and partly because it explained his fussiness and barfing the day before.
I guess that also explains some of the rough(er) nights lately. Saturday night was certainly the worst as the tooth made its way to freedom. I have a feeling I'm not going to love teething. He was just starting to enjoy playing on the floor by himself. Now he is upset if I'm not with him at all times. And he still rarely naps more than 45 minutes at a time. Awesome.
Last week we saw the doctor and she prescribed something for his acid reflux. I was hoping that would help his sleeping, but I guess we'll have to wait to find out. She thought he was 9 months based on his size, so she also recommended feeding him more during the day.
It's a good thing I love this kid so much! Here he is yesterday in his high chair. He is finally strong enough to sit in it. He played with everything he could reach on the counter while I got dinner ready. I usually have about 15 minutes before he is done and wants to be picked up again. He was cracking me up with all his talking and noises.
Monday we have his 6 month checkup. I'm interested to see how he's doing. Hopefully we'll have some progress to report.
I looked at my last post from nearly a month ago, and laughed. Here is what I had to say:
"Each of the past few nights he has had one stretch of sleep lasting four hours. Hopefully this trend continues."
Often I am very glad that I can't see the future. Living through the present can be a lot easier than knowing it's going to get worse before it gets better.
Between getting sick, traveling for the holidays, and a crazy storm driving us to stay at my dad's, Mason's sleeping has gotten worse. The nights when he sleeps for 2 - 3 hours at a time now feel like heaven. On bad nights we are up every 15 - 90 minutes through the night. It was sad and scary while he was sick, and felt like torture once I got sick. We have had three weeks of this sleep pattern with a couple good nights sprinkled in. It has been emotionally grueling as much as physically. So, I've been reading up on baby sleep topics and we have an appointment tomorrow for Mason to get checked out for any physical issues. Wish me luck.
We've all been pretty exhausted. Here's a photo I took as I emerged from a nap one day...
I don't mean to sound pessimistic or ungrateful. We really are so blessed and have a wonderful, healthy, happy boy. So, onto the JOY part of the post.
We had a fun Thanksgiving visiting with family. First we went to Koosharem and had a great Thanksgiving Day with my family. Then we got to spend the rest of the weekend with Damen's family which was wonderful. We even got to go to Grandpa Burnham's 95th birthday party.
Here's a picture of Mason as we were riding FrontRunner to Ogden to meet Damen on Black Friday.
He was so cute and so content all morning. I love this boy.
Over just the past couple weeks, his curiosity has turned on full speed! He is interested in everything, especially the computer, phone and remote...a true Burnham boy. The dexterity in his hands is getting better, so he wants to touch and hold everything. He laughs more and is more interactive. He is also experimenting with his voice, so he likes to yell often. (I love the way his tongue rolls sideways and sticks out the corner of his mouth when he tries to "talk".) He has become interested in his toys, but also wants to be in the middle of whatever we are doing. It has been a lot of fun to see his curiosity grow and to watch him begin to explore things. The only negative side affects are that EVERYTHING gets shoved into the mouth, and he fusses a lot because that is the only way he can communicate.
Here he is, fascinated with something I'm holding. I love his bright, blue eyes and the serious face he pulls when he is intently studying something.
I've never been more exhausted in my life, but this guy is definitely worth it. As I am typing he is rolling on the floor smiling at me, chewing on a finger, and gurgling happily. It makes me smile, makes me happy inside, and almost makes me forget how many times we were up last night.
