It's amazing how fast they change

Mmmmm...washcloth
Originally uploaded by samiratou

Nicolai seems like a very different baby from last week. Not the washcloth thing--he's done that for awhile (it was just a recent cute pic), but more verbally and such. He babbles with more deliberate syllables now, noticeable consonants, etc. Definite "baba... dada..." etc., where at best we got a "goo" as a definable syllable. He's also taking to chomping or smacking his lips. That seems to have coincided with enjoying solids more and is one of those things that's terribly cute (like the sucking on a washcloth thing) that one really doesn't expect. Of course, he won't do it when we get the camera rolling, and wouldn't likely be nearly as cute to anyone but us (and maybe his grandparents), but it really is terribly cute. Some days I don't know how Eric & I don't end up daid from teh cute. He really is crazy cute these days.

We're working on transitioning him out of the Amby and back into the cosleeper. He's doing okay with it, but it is harder to transfer him from arms to bed without him waking himself up. I envy people who can just put their babies down and have them go to sleep. I don't know if we'll ever have one of those babies. Neither Eric nor I are easy sleepers, and I feel Nicolai is doomed to the same, poor kid. I guess we'll have to teach him to read early so he can read himself to sleep like his parents. :-)

Mmmmm...foot

Mmmmm...foot
Originally uploaded by samiratou

Ah, milestones. Sometimes they're major, other times...well, not so much. He rolled over again today and did much better eating sweet potatoes (swallowed more than spat, actually opened his mouth for them, chewed). And he got his feet in his mouth for the first time. My baby is growing up. *sniff*

Nicolai rolling over

Nicolai rolling over
Originally uploaded by samiratou

At long last, we have rolling over. Just from front to back, and he hasn't done it since, but still. He's getting there. And he was so. darn. proud of himself. May 19, 2009.

6 Month State of the Baby Address

6 months
Originally uploaded by samiratou

Nicolai is 6 months old today. And, as you can see, he's still loving life.

He's shot up to over 16 pounds now, which puts him all the way up to the 25th percentile for weight (up from 6% or so). It's amazing how much faster babies grow when they keep their food in their tummies (he appears to have outgrown his reflux issues in the past couple weeks)! We're rather thrilled about that. :-)

He isn't rolling over yet, but he's close. He might be better at it if we put him on his tummy more, but we suck at that, as he's just starting to like spending time on his tummy. He might end up being one of those kids that goes straight to sitting and standing, bypassing the whole rolling/crawling stage. He does like to sit and stand an awful lot.

We started solids a few weeks ago, and progress on that front is slow. I'm a little surprised he hasn't taken to them more quickly, given how quickly and easily he's taken liquid nourishment in all forms. We're getting there, though. He's also got an incipient tooth (teeth actually--he's got two blisters on his gums, but one clearly has a white spot under it), but doesn't so far seem too bothered by it. In fact, he's a pretty damn happy baby. He got over his cold/ear infection rather quickly and as long as he's fed he's pretty much been Mr. Smiley-Happy-Squirmy nonstop for the past few weeks. One thing they never told me about having kids is, yeah, you may be sleep deprived, but mornings are a heckuva lot more fun when the first thing you see is someone so darn happy to see you. In some ways I wouldn't mind him staying just the way he is right now. Happy, healthy, portable, easy to feed, easy to please. I feel no need to change things at this point. ;-)