6.5 months.

Wow, a lot has changed in the past 2 weeks with this little munchkin!  As in, most of what I wrote in his 6 month update is no longer true. So I figured we shouldn't wait until the 7 month update, and we'll squeeze in a 6.5 month one!

Firstly- he rolls!  Both ways, consistently, and frequently. Baby is on the move! He see what he wants and he maneuvers and squirms and arches his back and rolls around to get it.  Which is great for him, not that awesome for me, as now I have to constantly be on the lookout for stray choking hazard sized toys that he might try and pick up.  You know, things like Riley's marbles and coins and stray raisins, etc...

Another big change? His sleep.  He went from being the worst sleeper ever (waking up so many times per night and staying awake and just crying despite rocking or nursing) to being a (relatively) pretty great sleeper during the day, and a manageable sleeper at night.  Not a good sleeper at night, but at least something we are all okay with, for the most part.  He can put himself to sleep with just a little bit of help from us, and, get this, he now sometimes naps for almost 2 hours!!!  Now, if only I could get him AND Riley to BOTH nap for two hours at the same time. HAHAHAHA. I wish.

He's thinking about dropping his third nap, but he can really only manage that if his first 2 naps are long enough, and he didn't wake up too early.  So most days he still takes 3 naps, even if his 3rd nap is just a short one.  At night, he goes to bed around 6 or 6:30pm, and is up every 2-3 hours after that.  And yes, I nurse him back to sleep since that is the ONLY way he will go back to sleep.  I have tried rocking him and soothing him every other way, having Mark go in there, and all he wants is to be fed.  And to be perfectly honest?  I really don't even mind getting up a couple times per night (well, by couple, I mean 3-4, but who's counting) to feed him... maybe it's a habit, maybe he's "too old" for middle of the night feedings, but i think that's more a matter of opinion.  I didn't stop nursing Riley in the middle of the night until after her first birthday, and we all got along just fine!

Jackson does NOT like to be cold when sleeping, and he sleeps holding on to a lovey and/or cookie monster, and with a blanket over his head (put there himself).  He does this almost every time he sleeps, silly baby.  His ideal awake time during the day is 2-2.5 hours, but it's pretty easy to tell when he's tired.  He buries his head into my chest and rubs his eyes.  I sing him the same song and recite the same little rhyme to him before every sleep: "Goodnight little one, it's time for bed, so goodnight chin, and goodnight head. Goodnight cheeks, and goodnight nose, goodnight feet, and goodnight toes.  Goodnight hands, and goodnight thumb, goodnight feet and goodnight bum.  So goodnight little one, lay down your head, it's time for sleep, it's time for bed."  Cute, right?  And he knows that means it's sleepy time! 

After he wakes up from his naps during the day, he requires at least 10 minutes of snuggles before he will let me put him down.  And usually he wants to nurse right after he wakes up, even if he's not hungry... just a comfort thing.  Then once we've filled his quota of snuggles and nursing, then he's a happy little dude!  If we skip those steps, he is NOT happy to be put down!  But funny thing is, when he wakes up in the morning, he doesn't even make a sound, he just plays happily in his crib!  He is the most chill, happiest little guy in the mornings, sometimes we don't even know how long he has been awake, since he's awake playing happily and quietly in his crib when we wake up!

He LOVES his solids, and gets SO excited when he sees a bib and a spoon, he knows what's coming!  But his food MUST be warm, he doesn't like it cold or even room temp. We try to give him food to eat on his own, but he gets really frustrated when he can't get it into his mouth fast enough!  And he gets so mad if he can't eat whatever we are eating (say, a peanut butter sandwich, for example).  He's also re-discovered his tongue, only on all new levels.  It's like a little lizard tongue, he sticks it all the way out and then curls it up...

He loves chomping on everything and anything, but still no teeth!  He loves playing with the all of Riley's toys, especially her blocks, puzzle pieces and her abacus.  She mostly shares with him so far, so we haven't had many issues there.  She also knows that all she has to do to get a toy from him is hand him a new toy and do a trade, which he doesn't seem to mind one bit.  Not yet, anyway.

Other new developments? He's developed his first fears!  He's never been one to startle easily, not even at loud noises.  But just recently he's decided he's afraid of the vacuum!  And occasionally he gets frightened of sudden unexpected outbursts.  He's easily calmed with a quick cuddle, but this only started just recently!   He loves books, but really only just eating them... the pictures keep him interested for maybe 2 seconds, and then the book goes straight in his mouth.  Also if he's even remotely tired, he cries if I walk away from him.  Poor little bubby!

He loves bouncing in his bouncer or his joey jumper, and would probably just stay there all day long if he was allowed.  But he's not. :)  He searches for toys when he's dropped them, and if he's become quite the distracted little nurser, and will crane his neck to see what's going on all around him if he hears even the slightest noise.  He LOVES to be outside, and he loves dancing and jumping around while I sing to him.

He has just in the last day sort of started the think about new and different ways of getting on the move... i.e. taking is first "steps" towards the crawling motion.  Oy.  It's funny, with Riley, I think part of the reason she was sitting and crawling and walking so early was because we encouraged her to do so.  With Jackson, well, I'm perfectly happy for him to stay put for a little while longer, but in the last few days I have made more of an effort to encourage him to try and move around himself, and he's picked up on it reallllllly fast.  As in, he may crawl way sooner than I had thought.

It's the same with sitting... we started encouraging Riley to sit up pretty early on, but obviously in the early stages of sitting, you need to be spotting them and helping... well, it's a bit harder to just sit in one place and try and help a baby sit when you have a toddler running around from activity to activity.  So Jackson spent way more time on his back than Riley ever did.  But when we give the kid a chance... he's a pretty good little sitter!

He's also started "talking" a lot more.  He spent an entire day saying "dadadadadada" the other day.  As if he was so proud of himself for discovering this new sound!  He loves the bath and I am dying to take him swimming, but I think we'll wait a bit longer as I think the pool water might do a number on his skin (see red eczema cheeks above...) 

Anyway, I think that pretty much sums up the changes, can't wait to see what the next 2 weeks bring before his 7 month update!!