6 Months

Our Benson boy is SIX months old! He is our smiley, sweet, and, lately, LOUD boy. He found his voice probably a month ago. But, the past few days he has been so loud. He will yell almost constantly for minutes at a time. I'm not sure what he is trying to communicate. He yells when he has a full belly and a clean diaper, when he has only been awake for 45 minutes, when he isn't being given direct attention, or pretty much the opposite of all of those scenarios as well. When we know he is fed, rested, and dry, we just laugh at his yelling. Even if I get right up in his face and mimmic his yelling, he continues on as soon as I'm quiet. It doesn't seem to phase him. Sometimes it's frustrating because I wish I knew what he was trying to tell us. But, I'm learning just to relax and be entertained by him. He has also started to love jumping and bouncing when we're holding him, when I'm feeding him (that one is annoying), and when he's in his exersaucer thing. If this is his personality starting to come out, I fear for my sanity during toddlerhood. I can relate to and handle Annika's generally even-tempered personality. Benson, however, is showing potential to be a firecracker of a kid. I'm curious to see what he is like in another 6 months.

New skills: 

1) Sitting up! About 3 weeks ago, I predicted that he would be an official sitter by Thanksgiving. He was just starting to work on it at that point. David was skeptical of my prediction, but my baby boy came through for me. He is an official sitter as of Thanksgiving day. I'm a genius :)

2) Eating solids. We started Bens on solids around 5 months. I did rice cereal a few times. But, I get sick of trying to get that thin and flavorless stuff from the spoon to his mouth. He loves baby food mixed with cereal and his chubby cheeks show it. He has been a solid feeling baby from the start. But, since we started baby food he has really started to fill out. If our scale is accurate, he put on 2 pounds in just a few weeks.

3) Found his tongue. I have noticed him rubbing his tongue back and forth across his gums the past few days. I think he is just discovering what he can do with his tongue. It's cute to watching him working it back and forth.

Favorites:

1) Pulling hair. He has been grabbing my and Annika's hair for awhile, but he seems to be doing it with purpose now. He also loves it when I tickle his face with my hair. I love it when he grabs Annika's hair or pulls on her clothes. He really likes Annika. She is hands down the best at getting a smile or laugh out of him. He often stops nursing so he can look in her direction after she makes some noise. Annika calls him "la Cookie." I don't know where she came up with this, but we love it! When she sees him, she says, "cookie!" or "la cookie!" So cute. I adore watching my kids "play" together. Annika likes to show him things on my phone, or bring him toys. If she notices he is upset, she will talk to him or bring him his binky. And she doesn't get upset or frustrated when he is fussy and sitting right next to her. She is almost always sweet to him. The few times that she has pushed him over or hit him, it seems like she is just trying to get a reaction out of me or David.

2) chewing on his binky. This produces even more saliva than his already seemingly excessive amount. The front of his shirt is constantly wet. But, I will take this over spit up any day. He never really spits up, which is awesome. I remember Annika didn't for the first several months. But, then I think she was pretty average in spitting up. Bens has had fewer than 10 spit ups that required wiping up. It's gross, but sometimes I hear a burp and see spit up in his mouth, but then he swallows it. Very considerate baby. :)

3) Being tickled. This boy is very ticklish! His back, thighs, ribs. He really loves to be tickled under his chin. He doesn't laugh for that one though. It relaxes him.

4) Watching people. He seems to be almost as observant as his sister was as a baby. Tonight we had the missionaries over for dinner. He was pretty fussy while I was finishing getting dinner together. However, as soon as they walked through the door, he stopped and just watched them. This lasted a few minutes until we sat down to dinner. Then, he wanted to eat his baby food dinner too, and he let us know.

5) His blanket. One of my favorite things is to give this boy his blanket and binky when he starts getting tired. He pulls the blanket up to his face with both hands and just snuggles it. I made him several swaddling blankets out of cotton gauze. He still loves to be swaddled when he sleeps and he loves to cuddle with the same blankets when he's awake. It's so sweet to see him completely melt into his blanket. I just love this boy!

Sleeping info:

Benson slept in his swing until he was a little over 5 months old. Then, he slept in "the rocker," as we call it (Fisher-price rock n play), for about a month. Yesterday, I started putting him to sleep on the twin bed in his room. He has never rolled over in his life (unless you count the time he had a blanket wedged under him and he rolled to his back). So, I'm not worried about him falling off the bed and it does have a railing all the way around. But, I do need to set up the pack n play tomorrow just in case he figures out how to roll over in his sleep. Annika is still sleeping in the crib for now. I can't see her being ready to switch over to a bed for several months. 

Benson still wakes up once to eat every night. He slept through the night once last week. He goes down to bed around 8 or 8:30 and is up for the day between 7 and 7:30. 

He takes a good 1 or 1.5 hr nap in the morning and 1.5 to 2 in the afternoon. And then he takes a cat nap in the late afternoon. Lately, he has been pretty fussy most of the day. He must be teething. I hope so at least.

Stats:

I took him to the Dr on 12/6.

Weight: 15 lbs 4 oz (10th %tile)

Height: 26 inches

Head: 17.5 inches

cute shirt from Uncle Zack

Faux hawk

My sweet Benson boy!