Everett, you're 6 months old...

Your biggest accomplishment this month was learning to sit upright and you’ve gotten really good at rolling onto your belly from a seated position.

You’ve started inch-worming around; and are pretty good getting up on your hands and knees.

You can now reach up with both arms, to signal you want to be picked up.

We’ve been practicing two signs in sign language – “eat” and “milk” and you’re learning what to do when we say, “hands-up” as we put on / take off the tray from your high chair.

You love your toes and love to put them in your mouth.

You have amazing hand/eye coordination; it’s very easy now for you to grab two things at once.

You’ve started making funny noises with your mouth and making silly faces. Today, you actually whistled while you were blowing and puckering your lips.

You make your mommies laugh when you stretch out your arms and give your “Incredible Hulk” roar.

You still seem to be a thrill seeker as you love being surprised with the unexpected and you love fast movement.

You’ve been drooling lots and lots, but still show no signs of teeth.

You are ticklish; especially under your arms and on the bottoms of the feet. Hearing you laugh is the happiest sound I’ve ever heard.

You drink 6 ounces of formula as soon as you wake up in the morning and then fall right back to sleep in your mommies’ bed for another hour or two. You enjoy waking up and watching Elmo’s World on Sesame Street.

You love to eat your solid foods three times a day. At breakfast you eat rice cereal followed by a 4 ounce bottle of formula. You love your vegetables but not too many fruits. You added applesauce, pears, prunes and squash to your rice cereal, peas, green beans and carrots diet. Throughout the day, you drink approximately four 6 ounce bottles and two 4 ounce bottles of formula; you enjoy holding and playing with your bottle.

You take around 3-4 naps a day and each nap lasts 20 minutes to an hour.
You are awake approximately 12 hours a day and sleep about 12 hours.
Mama reads you a book as part of your bedtime routine. You are asleep in your crib around 9:30 pm and you sleep until 5:30 am.

You're still using your "sussy" (pacifer), but only after you're finished drinking your bottle and falling asleep. You also get to take you sussy to to bed each night.

You weighed 18 pounds/6 ounces at your last doctor’s appointment. We visited your doctor because you developed a rash around your eyes. She thinks you might have allergies.

You wear 6-9 month clothes, but prefer to be in your diaper. You went from a diaper size 2 to 3.

Your eyes are still blue and appear to be turning a lighter shade of blue.
Your hair is still a reddish brown. Your bangs have really grown long this month which makes us laugh because no matter how we brush your hair, your bangs part right down the center. Sometimes you even have a few strands in the back that stick straight up. We tease you by calling you ‘Alfalfa’.

You thoroughly enjoy your baths. You take baths in the bathtub. You love to kick, splash water and grab for your bath toys.

You also love jumping, so we play several jumping games. There’s ‘Jumpy, Jumpy, Jumpy”, and the ‘Horsey, Horsey’ song, and also the one where you crouch down low and jump up as we raise you high in the air.

You’ve become attached to your mommies and knowing our location. If one of us leaves the room, you whine in a voice as if to ask, where are you going? I absolutely love how affectionate you’ve become; it makes me feel as if we’re doing our job.

Six months later, I find myself feeling equally blessed and overjoyed as I did the day you were born. It’s so exciting to watch you grow up before our eyes, yet bittersweet. As much as I’d like to see what you will be like in six more months, I have to remind myself to slow down and celebrate every second that we have with you.

Happy 6 mo. Birthday Everett, we love you!