Bean Man: 6 Months Old

So, apparently I blinked for a second and six months passed.   What the crap?

Today is December 1 and Bean Man is officially six months old.   And my womb aches.   Where has all the time gone?   I feel like I was just pregnant yesterday and now Bean has been here for half a year already.   That means I only have 17.5 years left before he legally doesn’t need me anymore.

Which is why it is 8:48 AM and I am drinking a whiskey sour.

Just kidding.   I don’t drink whiskey.

Just kidding.   I’m drinking orange juice.   With vodka.

Just kidding.

We went to the doctor yesterday for Bean’s six month shots.   He weighed in at 15.3 pounds.   The nurse kind of snickered and said that her Thanksgiving turkey weighed more than that.   I would have been pissed at her for laughing at him, except that I was just thinking that my diaper bag weighs more than that.   So, I couldn’t be mad.   Glass houses, you know.

I asked the doctor about his weight.   The dude takes an 8 oz. bottle five times a day.   And an extra 4 oz. before bed.   And 4 oz. of juice at lunch.   Shouldn’t he be packing on the pounds?   But she said that he’s doing great.   He’s in the 75th percentile for height and in the 25th percentile for weight.   He’s still in the normal range for both categories, but because he’s so tall he just looks really thin.   He’s a tall, thin little man.

Like a worm.

Bean also got the H1N1 vaccination yesterday.   I really wanted him to have it.   We’ve had outbreaks of it in the school systems here and where I work, and with Bean being in daycare every day I was nervous about the germs going around.   I talked with our pediatrician and she recommended it for all of her patients.   So, I felt really confident about getting it for him.   The only difference I noticed this time was that he ran a fever after his shots.   He’s never really done that before.   But it stayed right at 100 degrees, so we just gave him Tylenol and lots of kisses.     I think it was the kisses that helped the most because he’s chipper this morning.

Developmentally, Bean is right on target.   I choose to think of doctors appointments right now as little SAT’s for Bean.   And every time we go, I wonder how he’ll perform.   We practice at home, but how will be actually do on test day?   Bean nailed it.   He was a star student.   I’m mailing his application to Yale today.   Early acceptance, of course.

Right now, Bean can do the following:

• He can put his binky in and take it out at his own discretion.
• We hold everything he wants right in front of him and let him take it for himself.   Even his bottles.   I think this has helped his eye/hand coordination.
• He can sit up for about a minute before he wobbles over to one side.   If we put his Boppy around him, he can sit up until he gets bored.   Then he usually just falls back and lays on his Boppy for a while.
• He can suck his thumb.   This is a new thing.   He usually sucks his big toe.   Don’t ask.   He’s a weird duck.
• He is rolling over like a maniac.   I put him down on the floor and in two seconds, he has rolled across the room.   I try to keep him on a blanket by putting pillows on the edges so he doesn’t roll on the carpet that has dog hair on it, but its a hopeless battle.
• He can put himself to sleep in his crib at night.   I used to be able to put him down when he was sleeping pretty good and he’d stay asleep.   But now I can put him down when he’s sleepy but awake and he’ll talk and coo himself to sleep.   I love listening to that.
• He has started to wake up more often throughout the night for some reason.   It happened during October when he was really sick, and he just hasn’t kicked the habit yet.   Usually, he wakes up around 3 or 4 AM and we can put his binky back in and he’ll go right to sleep.   Other times, he plays in his crib for a while before he falls back asleep.   I was worried about it for a while, but it doesn’t seem to be effecting his sleeping patterns during the days so I’m not too concerned anymore.   He’ll sleep when he needs to sleep, I guess.
• He has gotten really good with his hands lately.   He can pick up really small things (which has caused mild panic attacks about choking hazards…) and he likes toys with little knobs and buttons he can play with.
• He has started giving hugs and kisses.   His kisses are the best because he doesn’t know how to pucker yet, so he just mushes his open, wet mouth against your cheek and shrieks.   Its pretty much the best thing in the whole wide world.
• He plays peek-a-boo.   He can’t get the burp cloth over his face, but if I lay it on there he can pull it off when I say, “Where’s Beanie??”.   When I yell peek-a-boo he dies laughing like I’m the funniest person on earth.   Also the best thing in the whole wide world.

We are still working on the cereal/solid food thing.   For right now, he is not taking any.   He was FREAKING OUT when you tried to give him rice cereal, so my brilliant daycare lady suggested that we put a little in his bottle once a day so he gets used to the taste and then we try it in a bowl.   He’s been doing that for about two weeks.   He still doesn’t really like it, but he’ll drink the bottle.   I talked to my doctor about it yesterday and she said that we might want to try oatmeal or barley cereal instead because some babies don’t like the rice.   But she wasn’t too concerned.   She said to start letting him try more things in an informal way.   Like putting something we’re eating on our finger so he can taste it.   I think we’ll do this and try the cereal for a couple more weeks before we go to food again.   We’re going to have some applesauce later.   He already drinks 2 oz. of apple juice mixed with 2 oz. of water every day so he is used to that flavor.   Maybe we’ll have more luck with that.   But I felt much better after talking to our doctor.   She was laid back about it and said to just keep trying, but not to worry too much.   So, we’re not worrying.   He’ll eat when he wants to eat.

Bean’s little personality is developing, too.   He definitely has my lack of patience and my temper.   Like me, you can push him pretty far but when he’s had enough, he’s over it completely!   And, like me, when he flips that switch – look out!   But he also has the sweetest little cuddles.   When he’s tired or being silly, he likes to sit on my lap and put his head against my chest and talk.   He coos there for a while and then gives me a hug or a kiss.   It just melts me.   His sense of humor is developing, too, and he will laugh when you surprise him.   He thinks funny voices are hysterical and when we read books at night and I do all the voices, he talks right along with me.

I can’t believe how fast time has gone and yet each day seems to be so full of happiness that sometimes it seems like we’ve lived a completely lifetime in a day.   I am not a mother who doesn’t want to see her son grow up.   I love watching him learn and grow and change and develop.   Each new milestone Bean reaches feels like an accomplishment for our entire family.   But when I look back at pictures from when he was first born, I do stop and think for a split second, “Oh, stop growing, Beanie!   Just slow down and give me a little bit longer.”