CJ at 6 months: Our Da-Da-Darling!

So we had a lot going on during month 5 - appointments galore, strict dietary adjustments and, indeed, a fair amount of stress. A "Failure to Thrive" label will do that to a parent, lemme tell ya. Month 6, however, began leading us to the conclusion that all this worrying and preoccupation was ultimately unnecessary. He "passed" his followups with the pediatrician, naturopath and dietician, he's still gaining weight (slowly but surely - following his own curve) and he's beginning to toss his cookies less frequently (woot woot). At the end of the day, we just have a little dude who has battled some reflux. So phooey to you, scary labels. Does this look like a kiddo who's FTT???

Didn't think so!


Official 6 Month Photo - rockin' the monkey jams!

(Compare with months 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5.)


Physical Development:  

Weight: a li'l over 13 lb (3rd percentile)
Height: 26 1/2" (50-60th percentile)

So yup - similar percentiles as last month; if anything, even a bit higher for height!

CJ's been working hard at getting places this month! He has now mastered the "pivot" move - i.e. basically staying in the same core spot but using his arms to circle around and get to different things around him. His "pushup" got super-strong and assertive as well, and by month's end he started "air crawling" and expressing frustration that this wasn't moving him forward! (If anything, his attempts push him backwards a bit which frustrates him even more!) Poor guy - you'll be on the move soon enough!

He's becoming increasingly steady in the sitting position, though he still needs a bit of support. I suspect it'll be a few more weeks until he's completely steady in this position since he's so long and gangly.

His fine motor control really improved this month! He can totally rock his Spin & Sing Alphabet Zoo and other pully/pushy toys now, and he wants to grab EVERYTHING that's within reach! Usually stuff goes in his mouth (of course) but he's beginning to take more time to explore with his hands. "Reading" now consists mainly of him yanking a book toward himself and gumming on the corners, which can make for a trying experience for his sister during tandem story time!

He continues to love bouncing in his jumperoo, and, when held facing outward, totally digs kicking to music too! I'll post a video in the 7-month update when he really got going with this!


Cognitive, Social & Emotional Development:

Everyone continues to comment on what a content li'l guy we have and indeed - no shortage of smiles and laughter during month 6! He's really starting to enjoy games like Peek-A-Boo, "I'm going to get you!" and Itsy Bitsy Spider which involve an element of anticipation. When I place a prefold over his face on the change table, he now knows what's going on and will pull it off. He looooves getting kisses and will "kiss back" - which means grabbing your face and sucking on your nose, chin or whatever he can get his mouth on! <3

Dadada continued to be his most prominent sound all month. Of course, I tried coaxing a Mamama from him on multiple times, but not happening yet. ;)


Sleep:

Night sleep continues to be solid (usually bed at 8:30ish, feed at 4-4:30 and wake for the day between 7 and 8). Naps are getting a little more consistent. We're able to get him down without being held, but length is still extremely variable which means on any given day he takes between 2 and 4 naps. One method we were using for several weeks was the ol' "walk the stroller around the island" trick. Chris reminded me we'd used this for S several times, but at least with CJ we now have a snap 'n' go which is a lot smaller than the UPPAbaby we'd been using for S. This was a pretty surefire way of getting him to nap (as long as conditions were right - fed, dry, appropriate time since last nap) but it also meant parking the stroller base on the main floor, and him not getting used to his crib. So I started toning this down by month's end and working on crib naps. Stay tuned for how this is going in the next update.


Food:

First of all, my dietary changes (more/fattier foods) appear to have had a positive affect on my supply as I always have enough milk for him now and have even been able to stop drinking milk production tea. Not stressing as much about CJ's and my own health has certainly helped here too. So yay to that!

We waited right until 6 months to begin solids, and then (upon the advice of our dietician and naturopath) started with some veg. We're planning to do mainly homemade purees, though I did let him play around with a well-cooked broccoli floret. Fun stuff!

And finally, the good stuff - video highlights from month 6!

More CJ updates: 5 months
View what big sis was up to at 6 months!