Half a Year

You roll on through the year, with a new baby, and people ask you all the time how old he is. Six months, you say. And then you stop, think about it, and realize that, holy shit! That's half a year! HALF a goddamn YEAR! Which is insane. Or, as John so succinctly puts it - half a year down, seventeen and a half to go! ;-)

Where did half a year go to? It seems so fast, and yet so slow all at the same time. I can barely remember when Dexter was this tiny:

Cute baby, maybe an hour old

And yet, a year ago we were just getting back from Yellowstone. And that doesn't seem like all that long ago.

I was, at this point, like 14 weeks pregnant

Anyway, here's what Dexter is doing these days, on his half a year birthday:

We started oatmeal a few weeks ago, played with it for a week, decided Dexter hated oatmeal's guts, and stopped for a week. I just reintroduced it this week, and thus far it's been a huge success.

Dex is "drinking" formula out of a sippy cup. Meaning - he can take the sippy cup spout and put it in his mouth. And he can get liquid out of the spout. And then? A vast majority of it spills down his bib. One day we'll get that swallowing thing down. All in good time...

Hmmm. Didn't all fit. Better spit some out.
Got Milk?

Dexter is sitting up on his own, no support needed. I still put pillows behind him - he uses them to catch his balance, and they catch him when he falls backwards. When he does face plants, though? Nothing there to catch him. Except his nose.

Woo-hoo! No hands!

Fortunately there was a ball here to catch me when I fell this time.

Dex and I go for backpack walks every morning. He loves touching the street signs, grabbing the leaves on the trees, petting the cedar trees, and looking at the birds in the sky.

Cool! Cedar tree.

Dex is trying like mad to get to a sitting position on his own, from his back. It's great fun during nap time, when he's on his back with his head raised way up in the air. How about you go to sleep, baby? No, thanks, Mom - I'd rather work on my six-pack. Ridiculous abs, this child has. I am jealous.

Mr. Rolly Boy can very efficiently roll from back to belly, belly to back. And I think (I need to watch him in his crib some time to be sure) that he is getting close to doing so over both arms. For a while, he could only roll over his left arm. It's fun to watch him roll over to his back when you try to do some tummy time. Tummy time, be damned, he says! I thwart your tummy time with my rolling!

Dexter started swimming lessons this week. He is, I believe, half fish. Which I suppose is not surprising, as he still has spent more of his life floating around in fluid than he has actually breathing air. The instructor was amazed that this was his first time at a swimming lesson. He was awesome - went under water and everything.

The dog is the most fascinating thing in Dexter's life these days. She walks in to the room and the world stops for the baby. He gets an excited little pant going, and just watches the dog. Who inevitably stops, looks to see where the baby is, goes somewhere else far away, lies down, and goes to sleep. Exciting stuff, I tell ya.

Dexter is also tremendously fascinated by his penis. Typical boy. It's a favorite toy while in the tub or in the pool. And it cracks me up when he's standing in his pool and pees, and then reaches his hand down to try to catch that stream of stuff coming from his penis. What is that stuff? And why can't I grab it?

Sleep is... Well, it depends. Some days it's a 30 minute nap here, and hour and a half there, and 45 minutes in the afternoon. Some days it's 30 minutes, 30 minutes, and a long nap in the late afternoon. Some days there's no late afternoon nap. Some days he goes to bed at 6:30 like a champ. Some days it's rough, man. So, basically, he sleeps like a baby. I try to roll with it and not stress too much. Which is hard for me, but I think I am getting better.

POOP! Holy poop! Holy every day, stinky, lots of poop! This solid food thing is for the birds...

Dexter is, at last measurement (today), 17 pounds 1 ounce, and somewhere around 27 inches long. Hard to tell - he's a wiggly little sucker.

Happy Birthday, cute boy. You rock.