Kate: 6 Months

Kate turned 7 months old earlier this week! Here’s a look back over the past month when Kate was 6 months old:

The month kicked off with Kate’s 6 month pediatric appointment where we discovered that she is currently 28 ½” long (99.5th percentile!) and just shy of 16 lbs (38th percentile). Kate’s weight has always been on the low side, but thankfully this was her first appointment where her pediatrician wasn’t concerned about her weight, so that was good news! We also got the green light to start Kate on solid foods, which I was pretty excited about. The appointment ended with Kate getting her 6 month shots. She really had a tough time with them this round and on top of being fussy she also got her first fever, but thankfully she was back to her usual self within 24 hours.

Introducing Kate to solid foods has been quite the adventure! We thought it would take several feedings for her to get the hang of eating, but to our surprise she had it down (literally) by her 5th spoonful! We started her on rice cereal and added vegetables and fruits about a week later (we also introduced her to a sippy cup, but she’s more interested in playing with that right now than drinking out of it). So far she eats rice cereal, sweet potatoes (her current favorite), bananas, avocados, apples, and peas. With the exception of her cereal I’ve made all of her baby food which has been a learning experience, but also a lot of fun! Kate’s messiness while eating seems to depend on her mood. Sometimes she’ll make it through an entire meal without getting even a drop of food on her bib, and other times she’ll be covered in colorful puree from head to toe! She likes to grab the spoon from my hand and pretend to feed herself which I let her do because I think it’s a good learning experience. I’ll put a little dab of food on her spoon to see if she’ll make it to her mouth but usually it just ends up on the floor or on the wall, which certainly ups the mess factor! The hardest thing for us to figure out right now is the timing. Sometimes Kate will eat everything in her bowl, and other times she refuses to eat more than a few spoonfuls. We’re still working on the right combination of formula versus food and the best times of day for each. It’s so tricky!

If you follow me on Twitter, you know that Kate got tubes put in her ears earlier this month. She hasn’t had any ear infections yet (thank goodness!) but is at very high risk for them, so we’ve known since she was one week old that she would be getting ear tubes placed as soon as her little ear canals were big enough to fit them. The procedure went well (it was harder on us than on Kate, I’m sure) and her recovery has gone fairly smoothly too, so we’re very grateful for that.

Oh, who am I kidding?

It totally sucked and I ABSOLUTELY HATED that Kate had to go through it!

But on a brighter note, we didn’t have to wait too long to reap some of the benefits of the procedure–we’ve been so excited to introduce Kate to “swimming” and once her tubes were in we were finally able to! We recognized pretty early on that Kate really loves being in water. She always has so much fun when G and I give her baths–she just loves splashing and kicking, and doesn’t mind when water gets in her face. Earlier this month we went to G’s parents house and Grandma Pam had a little wading pool all set up for Kate in the backyard! G’s parents live on a lake and Kate had so much fun in her new wading pool that we decided to introduce her to the lake as well. She loved it! Here’s a video of Kate and Daddy playing in the lake for the first time–she’s all laughs! We’ve also enrolled Kate in swimming lessons, so she’s officially a “Little Dipper.” G and I took her to her first class last week and she did great!

Oh, how could I forget? Kate has also mastered sitting up! She had a pretty good start on the skill at five months old, but at six months old she really got it down. She no longer needs any assistance from us, so we can sit her on the floor, step away, and she’s totally fine. It’s so weird, funny, sad, amazing to see our tiny baby girl just sitting up all by herself and playing with her toys! Crawling seems like it’s right around the corner and we’re definitely not ready for that! She already army crawls and lunges around the room, and now she’s starting to get up on all fours and rock back and forth. She just needs to put it all together and she’ll be mobile–eek!

One of Kate’s newest things is touching my face. It’s the sweetest thing! She loves to reach out and touch my cheek which always makes me grin, and then I’ll tell her, “That’s what a smile feels like.” She is constantly exploring and learning with those little hands of hers! She will also now wrap her little arms around my neck when I’m holding her and I don’t think there could be a more incredible feeling in the whole entire world! I wish I could bottle it up and keep it forever.

Since Kate is so long she outgrew her infant carrier/carseat earlier this month, so two more “firsts” have been transitioning her to a convertible carseat, and a new forward facing stroller. She wasn’t phased by the carseat transition, although I do miss being able to carry her around in the carrier when we’re running errands. It was so convenient! And I have to admit, I also miss being able to see her face when we’re going for walks–although she certainly seems to love being able to look out at the world now!

One last thing–we finally got Kate’s bedtime stretched to 6:30pm (it was 6pm) and she’s now sleeping through the entire night for a grand total of 11.5-12 hours of sleep each night! Of course I’m still getting up at midnight, 1am, 4am, etc. to check on her, but at least one of us is finally sleeping through the entire night!

So many new and exciting things at six months old!

Additional Kate 6 Months Posts:
My Own Little Eat, Pray, Love Story
Momnesia?