Jake~6 Months

Finally, here is Jake's 6 month post!

How does half a year pass by so quickly?!  My little pumpkin is growing and changing by the day.  Reaching those precious little milestones and then zipping on to the next one.  His sweet, tender personality is becoming more concrete, and we continue getting glimpses of the wonderful little boy he will become.  He is quick to smile and quick to make you smile.  His laughter is contagious, and I dare you to hear it and not smile yourself.  This baby boy of ours is a genuine sweetheart.

As you might notice in this set of pictures, he really likes to open his mouth really wide a lot.  That's not necessarily a trick, but it is pretty funny.  We take advantage of that big ol' mouth by planting lots of kisses in it all the time, each of which results in a big smile or giggle from him.  One of my most favorite things about him is when he initiates those kisses.  A lot of times when I pick him up, he'll grab both sides of my face or a handful of hair on each side of my head and dive in for a big, drooly kiss.  I think my heart nearly explodes with love for this little one each time he does it.

My other most favorite thing about him right now is how he laughs at Cooper.  Jake gets sooooooooooooo excited when Cooper is around, and sometimes all Cooper has to do is look at Jake, and Jake will laugh.  And he'll laugh, and he'll laugh, and he'll laugh.  At nothing.  But it is so funny, and it makes all of us laugh too.  The bond of brothers.  I love it.

Another one of my most favorite things about him (I could go on all day listing favorite things probably) is the way he crosses his hands like he's praying when he sleeps.  It is so sweet to go in and check on him right before I go to bed and look at him sleeping like that.
Let's talk about sleep for just a minute while I'm somewhat on that subject.  My baby doesn't like to be rocked.  Cooper would still like for me to rock him to sleep, but Jake will only let me rock him for a second, and then he wants to be put down in his crib.  That is if he's still awake after he's done nursing at night.  A lot of times he falls asleep during his "dessert" feed as I call it.  If he's still awake when he's done though, he wants to be put in his crib to fall asleep.  Jake still sleeps on his side for the most part, but sometimes flips on over to his belly.  Very rarely does he sleep on his back.  Also on the sleep subject, we're finally sleeping through the night!  Do you hear angels singing right now?!  Actually, my 3 1/2 year old likes to visit us often during the night for various non-legitimate reasons ("I have to tee-tee."  Then go tee-tee.  "I'm just checking on you." Cooper, it's 2:00 am; we're sleeping. "I can't find dog." He's in your bed where you're supposed to be.  "I woke up." Then go back to sleep.  Etc.), so I guess I should just say that Jake is sleeping through the night, not "we."

After he turned 5 months, we started putting him in his highchair at the table to get him used to sitting at the table during meal times.  I should have done this sooner because he loved it!  When he was just about 6 months, we started solids (rice cereal, oatmeal cereal, sweet potatoes, bananas, apples, carrots, pears), and I blogged about how great he was doing.  He's almost 7 months as I write all this, so look forward to a long story during his 7 month post about how I shouldn't have bragged about how well he was doing with solids...

He is somewhat sitting up  on his own.  He needs a little support after a few seconds.  I don't give him enough practice on sitting because he loves being on his tummy and playing with his toys.  He has really started showing an interest in balls and books this month.  

He's also very interested in us.  He loves to interact with us and watch what we are doing.  He participates by squealing and squawking, and it is hilarious!  He gets especially squealy and squawky when we pick Cooper up from school.  He loves seeing his brother and "talks" to him majority of the way home!  He just has the sweetest little personality and is such a joy!  He very rarely demands anything from us or fusses, and is so happy just to be with us.

I just love this little guy so much!  I love the way he curls his toes when I kiss his feet.  I love his many rolls on his legs.  I love his gummy smile.  I love him to pieces!

Happy 1/2 Year Birthday, Sweet Jake!