Month 6

Dear Evan,

This month is hard to describe. I think I'll call it, The Good, The Bad and The Adorable.

At the beginning of your sixth month, we welcomed 2012. This was pretty much a non-event for you. You went to bed as usual and weren't awakened by the noisy fireworks in the neighborhood. Your dad and I just barely made it to midnight but were able to ring in our fifteenth new year together. And then we pretty much passed out. Having a kid is making us old.

After being almost completely well and healthy at Christmas, you started 2012 off with a bang. You were at the doctor's office three times this month-- suspected ear infection, bronchiolitis, and pink eye. Healthy, you were not. You had been sleeping really well at night, but the bronchiolitis (still!) has you up throughout the night coughing up a lung and the stuffy nose has you waking up drowning in snot. Not good times for anyone in this house. That's The Bad.

Lucky for us, there's so much more to report for The Good. In spite of how terrible your coughing and sniffing sound, you've been wonderfully pleasant.

You got the hang of rolling this month. At first it was only back-to-front, then it was back-to-front and front-to-back but only to your left and pretty recently you've started rolling toward your right. You've covered some serious ground in the living room just by rolling. You're also droolier (What? That's a word.) than ever which means you're drooling while rolling. And when you're done, we pick you up and you have a dog/cat hair beard! I can (will) only vacuum so much, buddy, so you're just gonna have to deal.

You're starting to get the hang of sitting but you're not quite there yet. You do sit very well in your high chair though. Speaking of high chairs, you got to sit in your first big boy high chair at a restaurant. It was pretty hilarious. Those wooden chairs are big and slippery. And since you don't have a lot of sitting control, you just wanted lean back and slide down. We figured it out by stuffing jackets behind you. You looked really uncomfortable crammed up to the front but, boy oh boy, we're you happy to be sitting at the table with us. You had pears; we had BBQ and mac n cheese. I think we win.

You've been eating so much food! Trying new foods and seeing your reaction is so much fun. Everyone made foods sound like such a terrible time. I love it! I guess maybe that's because you're pretty agreeable. You're pretty clear about not liking peas, but everything else has been good. Your favorites are prunes and apples (as a combo), peaches and squash.

And crawling? You are trying so hard but without much success. You lay on your belly and pump your legs like a mad man. I can just imagine that you're thinking,
I think you should have it figured out pretty soon though.

"What the heck?! This is exactly what the other babies do! Why isn't it working for me?"

You've continued to be really vocal. This month, you're more noticeably practicing consonants, like Fs, Gs and Ws. You would also be very good at rolling out some Spanish RRs. For example, perro-- Spanish for dog.

And speaking of dogs, you're really into Laika and Lars these days. When you notice them, you're mesmerized. It's nearly impossible to get you to pay attention to eating when Laika is in the room. You'll twist all the way around and hang out of the high chair just to see what she's up to. I bet you can't wait until you're able to chase them around. I can also bet at least one of them is not nearly as excited for that day to come.

The other day, Laika was wanting to be all up in your face so I held her head up to your face so the two of you could look at each other. I have to hold her because otherwise, you'll drown in her kisses. Her nose was just a couple inches from your face and you opened your mouth wide. You see, buddy, you investigate EVERYTHING with your mouth. Laika's nose, however, should not be investigated that way. At least not while mommy is watching, please.

And last but not least, daycare. You love it and so do we. Any working mom will admit to that little (or big in some cases, I'm sure) inkling of mom guilt about sending their kid to daycare 40+ hours a week. Seeing what you're learning and watching your interactions with the other kids and the caretakers makes me happy though. Plus, your dad and I have a fabulous time making up personas for the other babies. There's the slut and the whiney bitch and... okay, I should stop there. There are two that are just your friends. They're two of the older boys and they like to crawl over and start inspecting you as soon as we put you down. I think they must wonder what's wrong with you because you're just as big as them yet you can't even crawl and they're starting to walk. Little do they know, you're a good 4-6 months younger than them but you're just a monster.

One day, Daddy visited you at lunchtime to suction some snot from your nose. (The daycare workers aren't allowed to stick anything in any holes, including to suck snot. Probably a good policy. Heh.) After you had been emptied of snot (Ha! Who am I kidding? You're never empty!), you were sitting on Daddy's lap, playing. One of the other babies (The Slut-- also your girlfriend), was in her crib crying. You looked over at her and smiled your biggest smile. We're trying to decide what you were thinking:

"It's okay, gf, be happy!"

"Hey, gf, don't you wish your daddy came to play with you at lunchtime? Bwahaha!"

We think it was probably the last one. I mean, you are our kid, after all.

Also, you're huge. No official numbers until Monday but you're at least 20lbs. And so dense. I like it. It makes you seem less breakable and I know you're healthy. At some point, being in the 90th+ percentile is not going to be acceptable, but for now, you're golden.

Between my own observations and what others have told me, I think 6-8 months is the most fun baby age. You're already super fun. I can't wait to see what's in store!

And here's The Adorable:

I love you, Buddy!

Mom