Ben is 6 Months

Ben is now 6 months and I wanted to give an update on what he is doing. Ben is the most delightful baby! He is a bundle of joy. Unless he is hungry, sick or has a messy diaper, he has a smile, a giggle or squeal for anyone. In the morning he usually wakes up really happy. He kicks and grins when he sees me and you can't help but scoop him up and snuggle him (no matter how many times he woke me up at night). I'm so grateful for this ray of sunshine in my life.

At Ben's 6 month appointment, he weighed in at 20 lbs 2.6 oz which put him in the 87% (which is a drop from 92% at 4 months). He is 67 cm long which is 46% (down from 58%). He is now bigger then Emily and Sam were at 1 year old. He is wearing clothes that Sam wore at 10 months. We contribute the drop in weight due to his excessive amounts of moving. He rolls all over the place and can get up on all fours (see below). He can even lift his rear end in the air with his arms and legs straight. He is trying to crawl but has not been able to move his hands forward. So he ends up just going backwards (see picture below again-he has backed himself up against the wall). He is very happy to be rolling and/or scooting on the floor playing with his toys (or anything else that is on the floor).Ben has 2 little teeth on the bottom which accounts for all the drooling you see in the pictures. His hair is coming in BROWN!!!! I'm so excited to finally have a dark haired baby! His eyes will probably be brown as well which Emily and I are also excited about. He is sitting up independently although if he leans forward or backward far enough he will tip over and can't get back up to a sitting position. Ben is starting to babble and often will say ba ba, da da but isn't to consistent about it. He is also very distractable. He won't eat if there is something to watch or listen to.

He just started eating rice cereal. When I first started giving it to him, he did not have any interest so I stopped. But then he started reaching for our food when we ate so I tried it again and he is liking it a lot (which is a first for us-Emily and Sam had nothing to do with baby food). Tonight at dinner he would not nurse before we ate and he fussed all through dinner. I could tell he was hungry so I made him some rice cereal and fed him in his high chair at the table and he was so happy. You could tell he wanted to eat like the rest of the family. He was all smiles and happy squeals because he was just like everyone else. It was strange and hilarious! Ben loves people. He is all smiles for Sam and Emily but he really loves Brad! They have a special "language" they use with each other. Ben will use a squawking sound he only uses with Brad. Brad "talks" back to him. It is amazing. Emily and Sam were such Mommy babies. It is so neat to see Ben so attentive to Brad. I love it. I love to see Brad come and pick him up and give him hugs and play with him just because he wants to. It is so special. I love this adorable baby!