Appreciate the Adventure

Ian has reached 7 months old!  My baby is more than half of a year old.  He officially dropped the title of “newborn” some time ago, and while he’s still an infant, he’s rapidly moving toward being a toddler.  Where has the time gone?  While I do miss holding him on the porch swing while he would sleep, he’s so much fun to play with now.  He loves toys and animals, and interacts so much with us.  Brinn’s been working on high-five, which  Ian will do about 75% of the time. When he has an audience, Ian gets a bit preoccupied with watching them rather than high fiving.

While forward crawling is still not on Ian’s resume, he’s definitely got backwards down solid.  I don’t think forward is far in Ian’s future, though.  He’s all about doing push-ups lately, and reaches all the way up on the tips of his toes, then he’ll hold the pose and rock back and forth.  Mogwai’s going to be on the run before long, as Ian will be able to keep up here soon.

Ian still persists in holding his own bottle, of course, but also prefers more and more real food these days.  The doctor’s given us the all clear to start him on meat, so we may look into that here soon.  I haven’t been in a huge hurry to start that food group, but I do recognize the value in lean proteins and high iron.  We’ll get there soon!  In the meantime, he’s still happy to chow down on his butternut squash and peas.  I might try to fit something new in his diet this weekend.  Several people warned me to avoid fruits, as he’ll prefer those to veggies and it will be harder to get him to eat veggies, but so far Ian’s pretty happy to eat whatever you hand him…that’s about his only condition: he feed it to himself.  If he’s in control he’s just as  happy with peas as he is with apples or pears.

While Ian hates keeping his socks on, I’m delighted that he enjoys wearing a hat and jacket as much as I do.  He’ll yank his socks off wherever he’s at, but he never messes with his hat.  And check out those blue eyes!  This little boy is going to melt some hearts when he gets older!

Ian persists in his efforts to become completely independent of his parents.  Already he pushes us away when we try to hug him tight, and takes his bottle away from us so that he can feed himself.  Even in play Ian’s fighting for independence.  While waiting to see the doctor this week, Ian discovered that he can hold on to the height adjuster of the doctor’s stool, and keep himself balance across the seat.  After this, he needed no help hanging on, and squealed and giggled to encourage Brinn to keep pushing him around and spinning him…

While Ian is still not quite sitting up on his own, he managed to sit up in the shopping cart at Aldi over the weekend.  He thought he was pretty big stuff, getting to sit up on the same level as everyone else, without being tied into a carrier.

Brinn has been working hard with Ian over the last week, and he has finally reached success in teaching Ian to “high-five.”  It’s more difficult when there’s any excitement going on to distract Ian (like being around people), but when it’s just the three of us, almost every time that Brinn holds up his hand and says: “come on, high-five buddy,” Ian will reach his little hand out and palm Brinn’s.  It’s so cute to watch him grin big over his accomplishment.  Ian’s also been working hard this week to master crawling.  He’s going strong in reverse, but doesn’t quite have forward down just yet.  He can lift himself up completely on his knees and hands, though, so I don’t think forward movement is far away.  The pediatrician suggested that the time has come to put plastic covers in all the electric outlets, and move all hazardous objects to the top of the refrigerator.  Mogwai is right in the thick of things, and has been hovering near Ian every time we put him in the floor.  Brinn’s theory is that Mogwai’s hoping Ian will start retrieving the tennis balls that have rolled up under the couch.

Even though Ian strives to accomplish things on his own lately, when he doesn’t feel well he still looks for his mommy and daddy to make things feel better.  His cold never quite cleared up, and last night it pulled him down again.  It hurts so much to see him wince every time he sneezes, or hear him cry after a cough, but I still feel validated when he reaches his arms for me and when he falls asleep on my chest.

Ian’s funnest age so far is definitely the six month mark.  This little boy is so full of grins and giggles now, and has just started reaching for us.  There’s just not much to make you feel better inside than for a little boy’s face to light up when you walk in the door, then have him reach his arms out and squeal.  I wish I could say that Ian did this first for his mommy, but nope, it’s all about his doggies.

Initially, Mogwai would smile when he would see or hear Chaco.  Ian’s always had an ear for voices, and not only could he distinguish between Brinn and myself speaking, but he could also tell the difference between Chaco and Mogwai’s voices.  While he would smile for Chaco’s barks, Ian would become so overwhelmed with giggles over Mogwai’s braying that he would begin snorting.  Now that Ian’s hit the six month mark, he’s gotten just as excited about Chaco, and grins and giggles for her as well.  Fortunately, Chaco has always been a pretty chatty girl, and will speak on command.  When Ian gets a little fussy from boredom, we can depend on Chaco to talk to him and entertain him until his mood lightens.  What’s really funny is that Mogwai, who typically only speaks when he has a squirrel up a tree, is now started to speak on cue –only when Ian’s around, however.

Another fun thing that occurs at six month is an even bigger push for independence.  While Ian is still a wonderfully snuggly baby, he’s completely happy to hold his bottle while eating.  This has had amazing results in our home.  Dishes make it to the dishwasher in record time.  Clothes can be folded as they come out of the dryer rather than sitting in a basket for three days.  It’s amazing how much you can get accomplished in the five minutes he spends with a bottle.

So far Ian hasn’t met a stranger.  He’s completely trusting of almost all people, and will sit contentedly with almost anyone.  A couple of weeks ago Ian and I traveled back home to East TN to visit a friend for her surprise 30th birthday party.  Ian was delighted to find himself passed from person to person.  He thinks new people are great, as their arms haven’t yet gotten exhausted from helping him “bounce” incessantly.

As far as the bouncing goes, Ian tends to either be an on/off child.  He seems to get this from his father.  If Brinn sits still and remains quiet for more than 5 minutes, he’s usually out like a light.  Ian’s following in this pattern.  When he’s tired, he will move constantly in his valiant effort to prevent sleep.  He never wants to risk missing out on anything.  When he does get still, it doesn’t seem to matter where he is, or who he’s with, he goes down hard and fast.  This had made traveling home to my grandma’s house so easy for both of us.

While Ian still loves to go for his stroller rides, he’s all about sitting up and looking around now.  The sides of his stroller tend to block his vision around the sides and behind him.  Ian likes to crane that neck around and investigate everywhere around him.  When our new neighbors moved in a couple of weeks ago, we couldn’t push the stroller and pull the wagon full of kitchen items we were taking over, so we just plopped Ian in the wagon with his bumbo chair.  He totally thought this was the way to travel.

More than anything else, the best part of Ian’s six month stage have been his grins.  He loves to smile!  My grandmother, who tends to be a bit of cynic at times, even remarked one night, “you’d think he could find something to get upset about.”  While Ian can have his moments, for the most part he stays happy and giggly.  He smiles when you pick him up in the morning, and smiles in his sleep when you put him to bed at night.  I love my giggly, smiling, raspberry blowing six month old baby.