Ant diary: Six months

Growth check: We weighed Ant a couple of days ago and he was 17.36lbs with his clothes and diaper on, so he's probably right around 17lbs in the buff. He's also as long now as his crib is wide (with the bumpers in), so I think around 28 inches. Six month appointment next week, so we'll get the official verdict then.

Movement: Astonishing how quickly sitting is progressing - in my last update I said that Ant could sit for 30-60 seconds without toppling - last night he went for over 30 minutes! He does still topple occasionally, but not much! He can also stand holding onto the music table with no support now (although hands have to be close by just in case). No signs of pulling up to sitting or standing on his own, but we can pull him up to either very easily. Also no real signs of crawling yet. Although he does "walk" with us holding him up, clearly moving his feet of his own volition, and with definite goals as to where he wants to go.

Toys and games: Ant's starting to reach for things that he wants but aren't right next to him. He also stares down things that he wants to play with, which makes it easier to figure out! He hasn't yet objected when something has been taken away from him, but I imagine that will happen soon.

Teeth: We think we can now see the top two teeth coming in, and may be able to feel the one on his left. Think they'll be breaking through soon! He's still sticking out his tongue when he concentrates - in fact, today I was holding him up at the music table and noticed that both of us were doing it. I wish I could have taken a pic :-)

Hands: Ant's grasp is getting much better. He picks things up quickly now, you don't see him think "Okay I'm going to pick this up", then move his hands, it's one fluid motion. He's still using his whole hand as opposed to individual fingers / thumb.

Feeding: Just started veggies yesterday, so now we're doing cereal 2x/day and veggies as well in the evening. Both of which are going pretty well. Problem is he doesn't seem that hungry for milk, so I'm trying to readjust his drinking schedule, but don't have that figured out yet. When I was away on Monday, he was only taking a few ounces at each feed from the bottle, a total of 11.5 ounces over four feeds. I don't know if he's going off the bottle, or what. Hopefully we'll find a new pattern soon!

Sleeping: We're finally seeing the "naturally earlier bedtime" that Healthy Sleep Habits Happy Child speaks of. Just in the last week Ant's bedtime seems to be getting closer to 8 than 9. It seems to be because he's skipping his last nap of the day, so going to three naps most days now. The first ones are still after 1.5 to 2 hours of awake time like the book recommends, but in the evening he seems to be able to go longer.

I also meant to mention in my last couple of updates that Ant's hair has started growing in! You could see peach fuzz a month ago, now it's definitely getting longer. We're also having to cut his toenails. I've cut the big ones a couple of times before, but just this week had to start cutting some of the others. Think that's it for now!