Happy half-birthday to our sweet baby Arlo! Six months brought about a whole bunch of changes for all of us. Read on to get the scoop!
Sleeping: Oh, sleeping. Where do I begin... One week before Arlos six month birthday, we moved him from the co-sleeper to his crib at night. He had been waking up and bumping his head on the side of the co-sleeper most mornings, and also didn't have any room to roll or move around at night - so it
really was time for a different sleeping arrangement. I tell you, this transition was much harder on mama than it was the little man. He passed out the second his head hit the mattress, I cried myself to sleep staring at the empty co-sleeper beside me and intently listening through the monitor for the smallest peep. It took me a few nights to get used to not having him beside me, but I realized we all started to sleep better with him in his own space. This past weekend we put the co-sleeper up in the attic (sniff, sniff) and our bedroom is now starting to feel like "our room" again. It's okay with me, and the fact that Arlo is sleeping so well at night allowed me to adjust pretty quickly (after the first few nights anyway!) His current bedtime is between 8-8:30pm and he will sleep all the way until 6am, sometimes even 7am, without waking up.
Now naps... That's a whole 'nother story. This kid fights naps so hard. Once he is asleep - he does great! He will either take one epically long nap in the middle of the day (I am talking 3-4 hours) or sometimes will take two shorter naps (2 hours early in the day and an hour long afternoon nap.) But getting him to nap is the hard part. The last few days have involved me putting him in the ergo carrier and walking around the house until he falls asleep, usually within just 2-3 minutes. At the advice of several other moms that I have polled in the past few days, my own included, I have decided to keep on with this method. Hopefully this is just a phase and I am not setting him up for always needing the ergo to fall asleep - can you see me wearing a four year old around the house every afternoon, if we are lucky that he will continue to nap that long? Anyway, my new plan is to try and be more consistent with his schedule. Once I figure out what his body naturally wants to do I can conform our daily schedule around that, however it seems like some mornings he wants to nap at 10am, and some mornings he falls asleep at 7:30am. Hopefully by our next update we have a bit more routine in this department!!
Eating: In case you missed my
last post, we recently started Arlo on solid foods! His first meal was avocado, and while the first meal was more about making a mess than actually swallowing much, day two was much more of a success and by his third meal he was coming at me open-mouthed like a little bird and crying between bites because I was too slow! This kid was
definitely ready for solids. Yesterday we switched it up and tried some sweet potato, and he absolutely loved it. We are taking it slow and starting with one meal a day for now. Since he is already on the low end of what he should be consuming as his daily milk (formula) intake, I want to make sure that the solids don't have any effect on the amount he is drinking. He is currently drinking around 5oz, six times per day and is on a pretty consistent schedule with his bottles - eating every three hours or so during the day.
Weight and Length: Arlo had his six month check up about a week ago, and weighed in at 15 lbs 1oz, putting him in the 10th percentile for weight - slightly higher than he has been (he started out in just the 3rd percentile!). He measured 25 3/4 inches in length (17th percentile) and his giant noggin is still in the 97th percentile measuring 45 1/2cm.
Wearing: Size 9 month clothes are fitting best during the day because of the cloth diaper bulk, but he is on the tail end of fitting into some 6 month things as well. At night he sleeps comfortably in a 6 month onesie because we are still going through the jumbo pack of disposables I bought months ago - its amazing how long you can stretch a pack of diapers when you only go through one per day! However, I think I might have found a cloth diapering method that we can use for our little heavy-wetter at night. Will be trying that soon and hopefully in the near future we will be disposable-diaper free!
Likes and dislikes:
likes: being naked, bath time, playing "astronaut" with dad, grabbing/petting/looking at the kitties or Lucy, the TV screen (ugh), standing up (with assistance) every chance he gets, smiling at complete strangers everyplace we go, riding in the Ergo on mama's chest or back (finally big enough for the back carry - yay!), eating foods
and playing with foods, seeing dad when he comes home from work, riding in the car, jumping and babbling in his doorway jumper, and putting
everything in his mouth.
dislikes: loud noises, naps!, being in the car seat when the car is not in motion, and doing an activity for more than 10 minutes at a time (after a little while - it's just time to move on to something else!)
New milestones and developments: During his fifth month, Arlo sprouted two new teeth bringing us to a grand total of four little pearly whites. He is
so very close to crawling and is completely frustrated that he can't go anywhere on his own yet - he wants to be on the move so bad! He has perfected his barrel roll across the floor and we can no longer set him down anymore and expect him to stay there for any length of time. For a while we were seriously thinking he would walk before he crawled but at this point he is so close to crawling I am sure that is in our near future. He loves to stand and has some seriously strong legs (obviously a trait inherited from dad) but his balance is not quite there yet. He can sit unassisted for 5-10 seconds but needs hands nearby to catch him when he topples over.
His fine motor skills are developing rapidly as well, and he has become quite skilled at wrapping his little fingers around everything within his reach - mama's hair, Lucy's tail, his baby spoon, the place mat at the dinner table - look out! Now if only we could teach him what "let go" means...
In the upcoming month I plan to start working on baby sign language with Arlo. I know it will be several months before we are able to effectively communicate with him via signs, but I read that this is a good time to start the learning process. Hopefully between "Super Baby Food" and "The Baby Sleep Book" that I have been reading in the evenings (trying to work on a nap plan!) I can make the time to read a bit of the "Baby Signs" book I picked up when I was pregnant.
Here's to another month of growing, playing, learning, and (if mama is lucky) napping!
