six months.

This post was written weeks ago, but it was never posted. Better late than never.

Jack David,

Well, you are no longer an extension of me. You are your own person now. You sit up and play on your own and have preferences as to what you want. You are so curious about everything. You can't ever just sit and watch. You have to be touching something and moving it around in your hands (and putting it in your mouth, of course). You continue to get less and less cuddly, except before bed time. I love the five minutes before bed time when all you want is to be held and tickled and cuddled. You are always cracking up in those minutes. You are ticklish on the side of your neck, on your stomach, and on the top of those thighs. There has been a lot of hugging (one sided), squeezing your face, and kissing because you are this happy chubby little boy. We took you for your 6 month check up last week and you were 18.1 lbs and 26.5 inches long. Your head was still in the 98th percentile. A thing you like to do when I first get you out of bed and hold you, is smile widely at me then thrust your head forward (reason unknown). In the past it has hit me in the nose and chin, but now I dodge it, so you go right into my chest for cuddles.

You are learning so fast. It's amazing to see you interact with the world and get to know it.

On 5/23, just after turning 5 months, you found your feet. Ever since, your feet have been stuck to your hands. You put your feet in your mouth, you hold them while you nurse. It's pretty cute.

You roll from your back to your side. You can roll from your back to your stomach, but you hate being on your stomach so you don't have the motivation to do it. You like to grab on to people's cheeks with both hands and lean down and bite their nose (dad in particular). You like mom's hair. If I'm laying you down in the car seat or in your crib, you latch on to it so I can't go anywhere. What a strong grip you have.

You have eaten some baby food: carrots, green beans, sweet potatoes, and bananas. You seem to like them all. Your favorite is drinking out of mom's water bottle, and more recently, eating iddy bites of what we are having. You just stare at me when I eat, with intense concentration, so I usually give you a taste. We got you a sippy cup that you drink out of, but are still not quite sure how to hold.

You love when I blow bubbles, which you try and grab with your chubby hands. Your arms will stretch up into the air and your fingers will open and close trying to grab them.

You love to throw things. It's your favorite game. We put about 4 or 5 toys on your highchair, and they will be on the floor within 30 seconds. Sometimes when you grab a toy, you will swing your arm multiple times like you are winding up to throw a softball. Your timing of letting the toy go is quite perfect so the poor toy goes flying. You are a pretty good baby overall as long as we are doing something or going somewhere. You aren't a huge fan of just sitting there and playing with toys independently. Your favorite place is still the outdoors, so that's where we like to be.

This past month you had the worst trouble sleeping. Some nights you were up every hour. It was a dark time for us all. But in the past two weeks, we tried you without the swaddle. After a few nights of practice, it seemed to do the trick. You are swaddle free now and loving it.

You have many adoring fans when we go places. It's always the big brown eyes and big cheeks they love. I love those too, but I also love your button nose, your rolly legs, and your two-toothed grin. Every day you confirm what I've known all along, that you are a special kid.

Love, Mom