Thursday, May 28, 2009

Cole at 6 months

Hard to believe it's been half of a year already! Our littlest man is growing quickly - won't be long before he is sitting up on his own and crawling. His first teeth should be arriving shortly, as well...all this gnawing and drooling. By now, Graeme had 4 teeth!

The pediatrician said he looks great (of course!). He hasn't started solids yet, and she encouraged us to start those (which I knew). I was surprised that she even recommended putting juice in the dry cereal - why do juice before they know enough to want it? Anyhow, I'll probably be experimenting in the next few weeks with making my own rice cereal, if I decide to start with that - I may start with avocado as I did with Graeme. Cole has not been interested in the occasional bit of banana I've been offering.

Cole is at the 75% mark in height (26"), the 45% in head circumference, and the 51% in weight (16lb.12oz). I was surprised at the weight %, as he seems quite chunky to me! The pediatrician shared an interesting fact, that breastfed babies are often in the higher percentiles in weight in the first few months, and then as your breastmilk fat starts to level off, their weight also levels off to more modest numbers, even in the lower percentiles. I find that it is a common myth that breastfed babies are plumper - and she confirmed for me, that it's the great percentage of formula-fed babies that guide these "averages"...so she's not concerned with a breast-fed baby that appears healthy and is eating frequently, though they may be at or below the mid-range of the percentiles.

Cole's personality? Developing, that's for sure! We're getting more demonstrations that he does have a will (which I was wondering about for awhile here - he's been so sweet and laid-back!). When he doesn't like something, he's starting to make himself heard, if ya know what I mean! He loves to interact with big brother, often laughing at his antics. I can't wait to see this develop more in the coming months. He loves people, loves to smile, and loves to cuddle.

The nurse asked if he is grasping, and trying to go get things out of his reach - I had to laugh! Is he, though?!! He gets his sights set on something, and he WILL get to it. He is a very determined mover! I know he is going to crawl early (Ped. said 8-9 months is average, but I cannot imagine him waiting that long.). He seems to me to be a "conqueror" - whereas Graeme was content to explore and study things, Cole's goals seem to be more along the lines of overcoming, conquering, and then moving on to the next conquest :-)





6 comments:

Laura said...

What a great update! :) That third picture could be on the front of a baby magazine. Cole is a handsome little guy! His hair looks a little curly in that picture...is it?

barefoot in gitchigumee said...

You guys make the cutest kids ever! so sweet, love the one with dad.

Melonie said...

What a sweetie! I love the photos - and what a great update.

We used Earth's Best cereals with Winky - and when he's old enough for jar food, try Dr. Susannah's (maybe it's Dr. Susan's - it's been a year, and I don't remember now!). I know you might prefer to make him baby food, but if you want to offer him some REALLY fun ethnic foods, her stuff is the way to go. Winky loooooooved them, especially the dahl and the borscht.

Myra @ My Blessed Life said...

Aww...he's SO adorable! I'm glad that his check up went well. I've thought to myself that breastfed babies seem to be less-chunky than formula babies...very interesting info! Let me know how your rice cereal making goes...

Amanda said...

Thanks everyone :) He is a heartbreaker, I agree ;)

Laura - yes, his hair does have a tendency to be curly there in front. I'm hoping, maybe?, that'll stay and he'll have nice wavy hair.

Tammy said...

Awww... what a love. Thanks for the post, and the pics. I agree, the one with Mark is precious. You can almost see a little gleam in his eye in the crawling one! How different each child can be!