Happy Half Birthday, Macario!

Written on October 19, 2011

Happy half-birthday, son! I can't believe it's been half a year since I first held you in my arms. In only as much time you'll be a full year old, and I don't even know how to feel about that as these last 6 months feel like they have come and gone in the blink of an eye!

I started this entry on your actual 6 month birthday, but life got a little hectic and I'm only just now able to finish it up, edit it and add in some pictures of you.  I want every entry to be perfect, so that when I share this blog with you one day you can see the care I put into it. It's important to me that you always know how much I love you and this blog is one way of showing you how much I treasure every moment we spend together.

This month has been a definite transition. You’ve always been your own little person with definite likes and dislikes, but now you’re suddenly able to demonstrate those preferences in a more direct way. That can be a good or bad thing depending on the situation.

These days, your favorite person is Daddy.  You just love to look at him, snuggle him, touch his face, be close to him, and babble back and forth with him. It’s truly the most amazing thing to watch. I really love to see you two together. Although, now you’ll reach out to anyone you want to go to, Daddy was the first person you reached out to. You also cling tightly to whoever is holding you when you don’t want to go to someone else.

George, your stuffed monkey, is your current best buddy. Though you still like Skip, you get really excited when you see George.  Whenever I hand him to you, I make monkey noises which gets you all excited. You throw up your hands, reach out for George and once you have him in your hands, you bring him in for a hug and a slobbery kiss! It’s really adorable. At times it even sounds like you’re trying to make the monkey sound because you’ll say  “ooo, ooo”after we hand him to you.

We haven’t been putting you in your jumperoo as much as we used to because you are starting to prefer to play on the floor. I think you like the sense of freedom because there are times when you also don’t even want to be held. We used to lay a blanket down at home for you to play on, but when you couldn’t reach something you’d just pull the blanket toward you, dragging the object closer rather than trying to move yourself toward it. Of course, Daddy and I think that is very clever of you, but because we feel it’s important that you work on your mobility, we’ve stopped giving you the blanket to use as a tool. We still lay out a blanket when we are other places, though, because we don’t always know what is or has been on the floor.

Given that you’re spending a lot more time on the floor (and now without the blanket), you’re really starting to develop some muscle strength.  You can sit up unsupported for long stretches of time and you also have been pushing yourself backward! Next will be forward motion. The idea of you crawling is both an exciting thing and also a little sentimental for me because it’s just another milestone that draws you further away from being my baby boy. You’re definitely becoming a big boy.

 Oh, that's right! You have an obsession with steering wheels!

Another example of you’re growing independence is your ability to do things for yourself. For example, you insist on feeding yourself now. You can’t scoop food with your spoon yet, but you definitely understand the process. After you’ve eaten the spoonful, you’ll release the spoon so I can fill it up again, but then you’ll take it back to feed yourself with. You can also pick up your little Gerber Puffs and put them in your mouth. You’re becoming very good with your hands. It's amazing the dexterity you have at such a young age. Oh and you give Daddy high fives too! Again, super cute!

You're now eating twice a day and having a few puffs in between (usually if Daddy or I are eating because we feel bad having you watch us eat with nothing to eat yourself).  Your first meal of the day is usually breakfast (unless we get a late start, then it's lunch). Breakfast (or lunch) consists of oatmeal cereal with formula and some type of fruit. The second meal is dinner, and it consists of rice cereal with formula and a vegetable. I've recently started to incorporate mixed veggie and fruit baby foods for you now that you have a wider variety of safe foods.

The older you get the funnier you are.  Recently, you have started to do this thing where you babble and then chuckle as if you’re saying something funny!  I love hearing you laugh and it’s especially fun to see you make yourself laugh. One thing I do that can get a big smile and a little chuckle out of you is to sign “milk” to you.  For some reason that makes you laugh. None of the other signs garner a reaction from you, but “milk” always does.

You haven’t necessarily used a word for it’s true meaning, but you’ve said “Mama” a couple of times. When you were a little younger you’d cry and make the “ma ma ma” sound, but you stopped doing that. Suddenly, you’re doing it again and I think you actually know what you’re saying, but I’m still skeptical. It’s still so sporadic that I hesitate to call it your first word, but the fact that you’re making more vocalizations means your first word will be obvious very soon!

Thankfully, you’re still sleeping soundly at night.  You have started to wake up at about 5:30 a.m. a few nights/mornings a week, but I usually just leave you in there to play and within a few minutes you’re back to sleep so I don’t actually have to do anything.

Lastly, you had your 6 month well-check today (10/19) which means you had to get shots on your half birthday. I didn’t think about that when I accepted the appointment date, but then again, the shots wouldn’t hurt any less on another day, so I guess it really didn’t matter.

You got your regular vaccines plus the flu shot this time. I always feel bad when you have to get your shots, but I felt the worst this time because I could tell that, more than it being painful, it was hurting your feelings that I was just letting that happen to you. The look you were giving me broke my heart, but I held strong because it’s all for your health and that is most important. You had a good cry, but calmed down as soon as I picked you up.

At this check up, your doctor gave you a book! He told us that at every well-check through age 5 you’ll get a book for us to read to you. I thought it was very sweet.

Your measurements are: weight 18lbs 9.5 oz, height 27.25 inches and head circumference 17.01 inches. You check in at the 71st percentile for weight, 79th for height and 74th for head which is pretty proportionate!

I’m so proud of you for being good at everything from using your hands to keeping a consistent growth pattern. You’re just an amazing little guy and I can’t say enough good things about you.

I wish I knew what I did to earn the right to be your Mommy because I’d keep doing it every day just so you’d know how blessed I feel to have you.

Happy half birthday, my son! I love you very much.