On February 13th Hayden turned 6 months old! Today Cameron and I took him in for his 6-month well visit. Here are his updated stats:

Weight: 17 pounds (45th percentile) Height: 28 inches (92nd percentile) Head: 18 inch circumference (95th percentile)

He is into the even numbers this time! The head update is that once again it has gained 3/4 inch in girth in the past 2 months, but it has jumped from the 91st to the 95th percentile. Since he is fairly consistent with his head measurements, they aren't worried at all that it is quite large. So let's leave his head alone for a while! His height sure climbed the charts though, going from the 68th percentile to the 92nd! I guess I have always been interested in statistical comparisons, however not everyone is, so let's move on...

Some milestones that Hayden has reached by this 6-month mark are:

• rolling over from front to back (although he doesn't do this on a regular basis, he suprises us (and himself) when he does - he can't go the other way yet)
• sleeping through the night (to bed at 7:30pm, up at 7am - give or take a half hour on each end- but pretty consistent)
• smiling (a ton) at us and other kids
• recognizing his name when it is called and turning to look
• eating solid foods (with gusto, I might add)
• sitting up (on the floor and in his highchair) for extended periods (still topples over if he looks up to the ceiling or up at mom and dad while we are testing his center of gravity)
• exposing his first tooth!

So as reported in a previous post, Hayden is now sleeping nicely through the night - every night (which is an important distinction to make). It is a whole new world at the Mallory household. Looking back, I suppose I would have started the sleep training earlier, but maybe it was just perfect timing for both of us. Every child is different, so waiting until he was 4 1/2 months worked for his eating habits and my sanity (I slowly became more and more callused to those crying bouts at 3am!). So all's well that ends well I suppose.

Since Hayden has cut his first tooth, we have had a few glitches in the normal sleeping routine. Our first clue that he was about to get his first chomper was a night full of waking and crying. That was last week and since then we haven't had too many problems and no sleepless nights. But we are prepared if one should pop up. It's hard work getting a tooth!

Eating solid foods is quite a trip. He loves all veggies (so far) and is a fairly well-mannered eater. We have made our way through peas, green beans, squash, carrots (in that order), and we are trying sweet potatoes for the first time tonight. He also eats pears mixed with rice cereal every morning. He eats about 2-2.5 oz of veggies at each meal (lunch and dinner) and about 2 oz of the pear/rice cereal combo at breakfast. I would imagine that these amounts will slowly increase over the next month or so. The next step is to introduce some of the fruits like bananas, peaches and applesauce and rotate those out with the pears once a day. We will still have him eating veggies for lunch and dinner rotating through them again until he can move up to the Stage 2 foods (probably in a month or so - they have more texture and he is still working on his gag reflex with the rice cereal). His pediatrician also said that he can start having yogurt, so we will start that as well in the next few weeks.

Some other things that Hayden likes to do now that he is 6 months old are:

• taking baths with ducky (he loves to kick and splash in the tub - watch out swimming lessons, here he comes...soon!)
• screaming and squealing at the top of his lungs in delight (and sometimes frustration)
• tasting ....everything
• jumping ...still going strong
• laughing at funny noises and faces that mom and dad make
• playing with his toes
• watching us eat...intently
• playing his piano
• wrestling with "Grover" and "Genie"
• getting back rubs from dad
• taking walks and being outside
• helping dad work on the computer
• raking toys towards him that are nearly out of reach and picking them up
• performing the "Hayden Heimlich"- a very sophisticated, self-inflicted safety procedure (perhaps this one needs a video explanation?)

Some things that Hayden doesn't enjoy at this age are:

• getting dressed (he obviously has better things to do)
• losing sight of mom (I will enjoy the separation anxiety while I can, pretty soon he'll be on the move and won't want me to hold him at all)
• hearing loud noises (sirens/blender/vacuum) and being in crowds (he cries in both situations)
• driving through the car wash (for the reason listed above)
• being still! (he's our little mover and shaker)
• face plants - when sitting up doesn't go as planned

He is growing so fast and doing so many new things. Everyday is exciting for us as we watch him develop. Today is the start of Cameron's new work-from-home schedule. He will be spending time with Hayden on Tuesday and Thursday mornings (right now I am still home, but eventually I will return to work on those days), and then he will work the rest of the day from home. These mornings will be especially fun when the two of them can take off on a bike ride to the park (this coming Spring) or go on field trips together (when Hayden is a little older).

His milestones are sure to pick up steam now as he learns to bang toys together, crawl, and eat finger foods. As always, we will keep posting on his latest achievements. -- mam