The Life of a 6 1/2 Month Old

I'm sooo sorry that I haven't been updating the blog more regularly. The truth is that I have lost the camera again. This time I am thinking it might be lost for good. My Dad and my good friend Moya have both taken a few picture of Pennington in so I will post them to the blog as soon as I get them. Below is the update.

Pennington is so close to crawling. He can get himself up on both his hands and knees but hasn't figured out how to move forward yet. He just rocks back and forth. I think he will definitely be crawling by the time he is 7 months old.

Pennington loves dogs. He loves to pet them. He loves to let them lick him. He loves to watch them. He can even sign dog but I don't think he has actually put two and two together.

Pennington is really enjoying eating baby food. He seems to be way more interest in eating baby food then having a bottle. We are still working on drinking from a sippy cup. It is a lot harder for little ones to figure out than you think.

Pennington still doesn't have any teeth. Honestly I am totally shocked about this. I wrote a blog about him teething over two months ago and he still doesn't have any teeth. You can see the bottom two teeth through his gums but they haven't popped through yet.

Pennington can sit up by himself now. However, he usually gets distracted by something around him (usually my parents dog Domino) so he doesn't sit up by himself for very long.

Pennington doesn't really have a set napping schedule. I know some children really thrive off schedules but Pennington definitely isn't that kind of child. Some days he takes two long naps. Other days little cat naps in the car and then one longer nap in the afternoon. Sometimes the naps are only 30 minutes and other times they can be as long as two and a half hours. At the end of the day I am not really worried about him not being on a set schedule. As long as he is following a good nighttime schedule of sleeping through the night (with the exception of waking up for a quick snack) I will be happy.

Favorite Things for a 4 to 6 Month Old

I thought again it would be helpful to write down my favorite things for a 4 to 6 month old so when baby number two comes I will be able to remember.

1. Robeez - This was on my list for 0 to 3 months. Honestly if you have a child under a year and you don't have these shoes you are soooo missing out. They never fall off. Don't even bother buying anything else.

2. Small Books with thick pages. - Pennington loves trying to turn the pages of the books I read to him. Books with the think pages are the best. Especially when he wants to chew on them.

3. Toys (Rings) - Pennington still loves his wood and plastic rings. One thing that is different about a 4 to 6 month old compared to a 0 to 3 month old is that they now put the rings in their mouths instead of just holding them in their hands. He also loves his monkey "King Louie". He just started to like laying down in his monkey gym which has toys that he can reach up and grab. He also loves putting his toy fruits and vegetables in his mouth.

4. Bottles (BPA Free of course) - I have totally changed my mind about bottles. I would now say that people should buy a few of every brand in order to figure out which one their baby likes the best. Pennington hates the Playtex ones now and loves the Born Free and Avent ones.

5. Eucerin Aquaphor- I so wish I would have found this stuff sooner. It is really pricey but it works sooo much better than anything else. I have been putting it on Pennington every night. It has been about three months and I am still not done with the first tub of it. Basically even though this stuff is pricey it goes a long way.

6. Diaper Bash - I am sooo happy we did the diaper bash. I still have about 700 diapers left. It is so nice that I don't have to be running to the store all the time for diapers.

7. Music - Pennington loves it when I sing songs to him. His current favorites are Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, Frère Jacques, My Bonny Lies Over the Ocean, and Old McDonald. At Baby Story Time at the public library they sing songs. Pennington loves the songs but isn't really into the stories yet.

8. Front Carriers - The front carrier is sooo much easier to use with a 4 to 6 month old. I use it to go on walks and at the grocery store.

9. Pack and Play (aka Playpin) - Honestly these are a must have if you are going to be going out of town with the baby. Pennington sleeps in his at the cabin and at my parents house when they watch him overnight.

10. Bumbo - So I have to say I initially wasn't a huge fan of the Bumbo. Mainly because I think a lot of people put their children in them when they aren't really ready for them. However, with that said, I would say that they are very helpful to have. The one I have isn't the actual Bumbo brand. The one I have has a tray on it so we have been using that to feed Pennington in. I think it works better to feed in him the Bumbo than in a booster seat because the Bumbo gives him better support since he can't really sit up by himself yet.

11. Zoomby or Bundle Me - Basically they are fancy blankets for infant car seats. I have loved using mine to make sure Pennington is warm enough. I will say that if the baby is born in the spring it is probably a waste of money because by the time it gets cold outside the baby will be to big to have a fancy thick blanket in an infant car seat.

12. Hardwood Floors - So I know people think I am crazy but Hardwood Floors are awesome for the little ones development. As soon as Pennington could hold his head up I would have him do tummy time on a Hardwood Floor. It is much easier for them to move on a Hardwood Floor because is a slicker surface. Pennington loves tummy time. I recently have found him rolling over from his back to get onto his tummy because he loves it so much.

6 Months Old

Pennington turned six months old yesterday. Wow does time fly. Tonight was the first time I have seen Pennington rollover from his back to stomach and stomach to back several times in a row. He can also get his legs up underneath his bottom which is one of the first things babies do before they start crawling. I definitely think he is going to start moving around a lot very soon.

Pennington is really enjoying eating now. He loves pretty much everything except for peas. It is really funny when he eats peas because he tries to blow them out of his mouth.

One thing I would like to mention about Pennington is that he is the EASIEST baby to put to sleep at night. If there is one thing I can be really proud of myself about as a mother it would be that I have totally mastered the bedtime routine. He doesn't need a bottle to fall asleep which is a huge plus. After he eats dinner and has a bottle we play for a while, then take a bath, then read about three stories and he is off to bed. All I have to do is lay him down in the crib, say "nigh-nigh", and he will go straight to sleep. If he doesn't fall asleep within five minutes all I have to do is put his pacifier back in his mouth and he will be out in minutes. In fact, I haven't even had to go give him back his pacifier for a few nights now.

Pennington, thank you sooo much for being such a good baby at bedtime. Mommy loves you.

Feeding Update

Pennington started eating solid foods about two weeks ago. We started out with rice cereal which he didn't really care for. We then moved to bananas, sweet potatoes and prunes. He definitely likes the the fruits and vegetables better than the rice cereal. Overall, he has started to get used to eating from a spoon and is doing fairly well.

At Pennington's six month check-up we got the go ahead to start giving him water and a small amount of diluted juice. We tried giving him water from a sippy cup tonight but it wasn't very successful. He understood how to hold onto the cup and where to put his month but had some difficulty sucking hard enough to get the water out. Like everything else it will just take some practice.

Six Month Check-up

Today Pennington had his six month check-up. At the appointment we found out that Pennington is 16 pounds 5 ounces, 27 3/4 inches long and his head circumference is 16 3/4 inches. He is in the 20th percentile for weight, 82th percentile for height, and 13th percentile for head circumference. Overall the doctor said he is on track development wise. In addition to evaluating his development, he also received his six month immunizations. He cried more than he did for his four month immunizations which made Mommy sad.