Mister Miles | 6 Months

We’ve reached the 6 month mark! Or, more accurately, in true Brittany style, we have surpassed the 6 month mark! Yay!

It’s no surprise that 6 months is a big one. It’s the month he wakes up one morning and magically can sit and crawl, has teeth, eats solids, waves and starts to say “ma-ma.” … Right? Haha. While some things do seem to happen overnight, it’s safe to say we’re hitting those milestones at a perfectly average pace! Right before his 6-month appointment he was really showing all the signs of final teething. His gums were swollen and he was fussy!!! I’ll update you on that during the 7-month post. Ahhh suspense!

We had a crazy mix of weather this month, that is why in the photos at the bottom of this post you will see us playing in the snow as well as wearing shorts in the grass for a picnic. I can’t wait until it’s warm and pretty and spring is blooming and we can take Miles out all the time. I’m so curious to see what the summer will bring and how Miles will grow up. One development Miles is a master of is growing big and strong… and big. He went up in percentile in both weight and height since his last well-visit. Now that he’s learning more control and his balance is improving it’s a little better but it’s still tough to haul him anywhere in his car seat or when he doesn’t want to be set down.

Growth

Here are the stats from the Mister’s 6 month well-visit appointment… Noggin: 17.5″ (67th percentile) Height: 28″ (91th percentile) Weight: 21 lbs. 5 oz. (95th percentile) My child is massive and my shoulders are well aware.

Development

Strength & Mobility In the week or so before his well-visit appointment Miles met the goal to be able to sit unassisted for 10-15 seconds without toppling. Right on schedule and it’s a relief for my muscles. It’s great to see his balance improving! He’s still jumping like crazy in his Jumperoo. He’s now familiar with his tummy-side and his primary means of mobility (if you can call it that) is to stretch and roll and bend to reach the toys he wants. He still rolls very easily from his back to his tummy but gets mad if he didn’t want to and makes me flip him. Hand/Eye Coordination Still grabbing at the hair. He is so strong. I mean it. Death grip. He’s getting to have a little more control and isn’t ripping my face off every time, just every other time. He rakes objects towards him and is learning to do more with toys than just eat them. His favorite things to touch still seem to be fabrics and pillows and stuffed animals. He loves to grab blankets or his shirt (or mine) and just play with them with his fingers. He has also officially found his feet. Or did I say that already? It ranks up there with the pillows as a favorite toy. Food Huge milestone this month! We started solid food! First we started with some ground oatmeal for a couple weeks. After his well-visit appointment we began to explore other fruits and veggies. I’ll save that for his 7-month update. It’s so fun and scary to see my baby growing up and eating from a spoon. His nursing is still pretty frequent but varies from 12-18 feedings a day probably. They are so quick, though, so I don’t mind it so much. I just go with the flow. It’s like he’s in a 6-month long growth spurt! His thighs are the size of a mack truck. Sleep If anything, Miles’ sleep habits have regressed. I admit I still haven’t been pushing the crib sleep and I think that really is finally about to change because he is moving too much in our bed and I worry that it’s waking him up more. He wakes up every 1.5-2.5 hours almost. Sometimes I can get him to sleep again with just a pacifier or to snuggle close a minute so he can feel and hear me breathing but to be honest, it’s just easier to nurse him because it only takes a few minutes then he’s back to a deep slumber and it’s nearly guaranteed that he’ll drift right back off to dreamland. I think I need to tackle the crib thing first before I move onto the nursing thing. I just hate thinking that I can’t just reach over and touch him if I want to. It’s also not fun to get up and walk to the nursery and pick him up to feed him every 2 hours or less. Social He seems to waver back and forth on his stranger danger. Men make him a little more nervous than women. If he’s in a bad mood or tired or something strikes a nerve he’ll still get really sad. Mostly if he starts to get scared or sad we can distract him or talk him through it. I hate it because I worry that I’m projecting my own hyper-anxiety as a child onto him. The fear I felt so often as a child was so real and nothing actually made it better except having my mom or dad back with me again. That makes it hard to think that if I leave and he’s sad he’ll just adjust and be ok. Because when I was little that didn’t work for me. Anyway, that could make for a whole other post, and maybe someday I’ll go on and on about it for you. For now we’ll just leave it at that. If I had to guess right now, I’d say Miles personality is a little shy and reserved. When others are around he’s very quiet and seems to be observing everything. He still doesn’t talk much exactly. He makes groaning, grunting and whining noises the most. We’re going to be working on his consonants this coming month. Memories Taking him out on the outside blanket for some sun on the very first warm day we’ve had this spring. Feeding him his first bites of cereal. The day his hair dried with a flip at the front. Every time he crinkles his nose is a memory I don’t want to lose. I’m trying to capture more video. It’s my favorite way to capture everything I can about a moment. The only problem is that it makes it hard to participate sometimes so I’m trying to find a balance there.

Other Photos