Brady’s 6th month birthday was Wednesday. It’s amazing how time flows by so quickly. The little tyke’s had a pretty good month all things considered. The only real negative was a bout of brown vomit which had him rushed off to the Dr for assessment. Their conclusion was acid reflux and a prescription for a cloudy white goop which we feed to him with an eyedropper. He’s done great otherwise, and even during that episode he was largely cheerful and unconcerned, giggling as he spouted like a casting reject from the exorcist.

In terms of eating, he continues to get new food types from us as we expand his palette. So far he’s much like me – willing to try and eat most anything and enjoying most of it. There were no home runs in terms of preferences this month, though he does seem to enjoy the mango the most of the new stuff. He also tried avocado again and liked it this time (we’ll chalk the initial rejection up to me not blending it well enough), and similarly now enjoys summer squash after we tried mixing a tiny bit of applesauce into it. He didn’t like the apricots Susan tried this week, at a guess because they were too sour. He also likes the sweet pea mash made from peas we grew in our garden. Brown rice gruel is also going over well. Susan’s been mixing it with a bit of fruit and he seems to love it. He continues to enjoy apples, pears, bananas, and sweet potatoes. So far Susan has been making all of his food from scratch, and as our vegetables in the garden mature an increasing portion of his diet will also come from food we’ve grown ourselves.

Behavior wise, he continues to experiment with vocalizations, moving from the quiet little chirps and coos to loud, explosive shouts, sometimes for prolonged periods. I can still get him into ‘conversation,’ though he’s less easily engaged with that now. Mostly this seems to be because he’s much more dexterous now – his head’s now on a swivel and he’s constantly twisting and turning, staring intently at everything and curious about anything new that is introduced into his field of view. His hand and arm dexterity is also much improved. He can reach for and grasp objects with a reasonable degree of success now, and anything he can draw to his mouth, he does, including appendages, hair, Soolin, anything he can get a hold of. He’s often more interested in checking out his environment and the new stuff than he is in chatting with me. Sometimes his curiosity extends to me though, and now that he can sort of use his hands, he will occasionally reach out to touch our faces – lips, cheeks and mouth especially.

I think he’s starting to connect words to things, mostly because I have occasionally noticed if I say Soolin or Nana, he’ll look at them. The same trick doesn’t yet work with Mom and Dad. I’ve been experimenting now with words to see how I can help. I’ve started with ‘Up’ which I repeat endlessly when he’s lying down or in his chair or stroller and I’m going to pick him up. I always try and end with a big exuberant smiling ‘UP!’ when I’m done as I drape him onto my shoulder. I think he’s already recognizing it because even when he is crying a smile sometimes crosses his lips the first time I say it. We’ll see where this gets us by the end of his 7th month.

He’s still not mobile. He can almost keep himself steady while sitting, but his arm strength isn’t to the point where he can keep his chest off the ground for long periods. He’s funny to watch though – his legs are strong, so he’ll squirm around trying to move, with his little butt poking high up in the air and his face and chest planted in his blankets. Mostly he can turn in circles and occasionally push himself slowly along, but he hasn’t yet figured out how to pull all these pieces together into concerted locomotion. He can also roll himself over, though not yet consistently, which occasionally leads to crying and frustration because he gives up and concludes he’s stuck, then starts wailing. He also doesn’t like to sit most of the time, and actually prefers standing in our laps with us providing the balance.

He’s pretty consistently slept through the night all month. He’s to bed by 7PM or so, and often wakes up around 4AM but can be coaxed back to sleep until 6AM. We’ve moved him out of his co-sleeper and into his own crib in his room, and so far that’s gone pretty well. We feel especially blessed in this department. We don’t get as much sleep as regular folks, but compared to what some of our friends have gone through we have it really easy.

Susan continues to post images to our gallery. The gallery of photos taken during Brady’s 6th month is here, and here’s a sample from one of his new experiences, swimming in the Lords awesome new swimming pool:

Susan and Brady as Brady tries a swimming pool for the first time