Halloween Update...

This week's blog update starts with Billy's first trip to the Pumpkin Patch. Antoinette did a little research to try and find a genuine pumpkin patch in Florida and while there are a few, they are not as easy to find as they are up North. This one had rides and things like that for the kids, but the selection of pumpkins was a little rough. So we picked out a couple of good ones (all of the good ones remaining), laid them out on the ground and then let Billy sit in the grass for the first time in his life. As you can tell by his hand placement, he really likes grass. Just sat there pulling it out while we waited for that smile. Goes without saying, but you can tell that 6 months has not brought this child any more hair than basically what he had at birth. Billy got to see tractors, go on little rides with his Mother, take a hay ride and see some cows, and see a bunch of barnyard animals. It was a lot for him all at once, so he basically slept the car ride home, but I don't think he cried once the entire time we were at the farm, so that was good.

On Saturday night, it was Halloween and of course, Antoinette had bought not one, but two costumes for Billy. He was either going to be a Tiger or a Bumblebee. Antoinette made him a set of wings, so Bumblebee it was, although I think he looks more like a Ninja in that outfit, so we'll call him a Bumblebee Ninja. How mysterious. Of course, in this picture, he looks like a Bumblebee, but let me show you his skill at blending in with the background, typical of a Ninja Master...

On Sunday, one of my employees was getting married and she had decided to have her wedding ceremony at the beach. Of course, that meant that Billy had to get dressed up fancy for the first time in his life. So Antoinette picked him out his beach apparel and then dressed him up for some pictures. Below is Billy all decked out for the big event. As you can tell, the little guy is a ball of energy and was ready to rock. He knows to never pass up an opportunity to head down to the beach...

Billy was extremely well behaved through the entire ceremony. Our biggest concern was that he was going to start into that high pitched screaming that he does when he gets excited. The beach has a tendency to do that to him. Lucky for us, he held off until the end when everyone started clapping, so it seemed to fit quite well. The reception, up the beach a bit, was a different story. Still very well behaved, but so excited to see all of the other kids, people, music, and food that he just started screaming and giggling as loud as he could. Antoinette and I were on a rotation taking him outside so he could get his screams of joy out, then we'd try and take him back in. Some people were laughing at us because of how excited the little guy kept getting every time he came back inside. I think Antoinette was getting embarrassed. Pretty funny. Ironically, he's sitting in my lap while I type this and screaming his head off. Apparently typing is pretty exciting to him, too.

On the way home from the wedding, we decided we would take the shorter route, which ultimately takes longer to actually travel because it involves taking a Ferry Boat across the St. John's River. Antoinette and I had ridden the Ferry before, but the little guy never had. So we popped the $5 and waited for it to come across, drove on and parked, and then got out to enjoy the sights as we took the ride over. At this point, the little guy was pretty sleepy, but he still seemed to enjoy himself. Especially each time a giant pelican flew over our heads heading out to sea. He really loved those birds, since they were only flying about 20-30 feet overhead. In the picture, he's looking back at the Captain's deck behind us.

On Tuesday, Billy had his 6th month doctor visit. His Mother got him all dressed and ready to go and off they went. Billy's weight came in at about 17.5 lbs. and he measured out at about 26", both putting him firmly in the 50th percentile of length and weight according to Antoinette. Billy's reflexes and developmental goals have all been met per the doctor. Regarding his diet, he has begun eating some flavored rice finger food snacks that dissolve in his mouth, but is yet to master the "pincher grasp" necessary to manipulate small objects himself, so we have to help him out. Billy is working his way through all of the Stage I foods and will soon be progressing to the Stage II foods, including meat and vegetables in a jar, which sounds pretty disgusting, but I'm not a baby, so what do I know? He's still a very good eater and his diet is right on track with the three major meals with two snack times. We were also told that we need to make sure that he's getting at least 4 ozs of water a day. He can get that water from his formula/breast milk mix and/or diluted apple juice and he can also continue with his sipper cup.

Developmentally, Billy is sitting without assistance at this point. He has recently begun to elevate himself to his hands and knees for that inevitable rocking, which often has him going backwards as his knees slide on the rug when he has his pajamas on. The result is that he is often about a foot or so behind where he started and even backs himself under the couch (just his legs fit). He has perfected the clockwise and counterclockwise rotation from this position, as well as rolling all over the place. But the new development, other than getting up on his hands and knees, is that he rocks, rocks, rocks, and then lunges forward, usually landing on his face. But he has figured out that forward is something he can control. I'm guessing by the next update in two weeks, he will have begun crawling to some degree. We are also going to begin learning to clap, wave, stand, and practicing our first words. Billy is getting close to the point where he should be able to understand the concept behind a couple words.

Because Billy is about to become mobile, we are going to be spending the next two weeks planning to baby proof the house. Antoinette has already begun buying outlet covers, etc. We still need the childproof latches, fridge locks, and a couple of those systems to secure dressers to the wall so they can't be pulled down on the little guy when he gets that inevitable urge to start climbing. I remember climbing on the walls/door jams when I was a little kid, flying up trees, flipping off porches, and cruising over fences, so I'm sure he's going to have a little of that trait, too. We've also removed the mobile from his crib now and lowered the crib itself down to the 2nd lowest level (lowest is for a toddler bed). We've rotated through to his 3rd set of clothes now (6-9 months) and to his 4th size of diapers.

Finally, to wrap up that doctor visit, Billy had another round of shots, including DTaP, flu shot (standard), Polio, Rotavirus, and Hep B vaccines. We inquired about H1N1 and the doctor recommends one, but like everywhere else in the country, there is a shortage. He received 600 doses and hammered through those in a week. He said he probably needs up to 6,000 and would let us know when the next batch comes in. Obviously that is concerning, so we try and do everything we can to prevent or restrict the little guy from catching something like that. Chances of a really bad reaction are still very low, but they are nearly triple that of the standard flu, or at least that is my understanding. Billy's next visit will be at 9 months old, in late January.

On a final note, some other interesting things Billy has begun doing is making weird faces. For instance, he makes this old man face where he looks like he's trying to swallow his top lip. We're not sure why he does it and realistically, he probably doesn't know either, but it is funny looking. He's also begun dropping/throwing objects inadvertently when given to him. In his high chair, everything hits the floor. When laying down, he moves objects up and down as fast as he can until they fly out of his hands (twice bouncing directly off my face). Nice. He also clearly recognizes his own name. Billy is also struggling a bit with Daylight Savings time changes and for whatever reason, his normal 6 AM or 7 AM wakeup is now a 3:30 AM or 4 AM wakeup. We're trying to work him through that, but so far, he's still getting up at 4:30 AM. We believe he's teething now and can feel a couple little ridges on the top and bottom of his mouth. Not sure if these are teeth or not, but based on his age, we're assuming so.

Over the next couple weeks, some of the new things we're going to be looking for are improved crawling skills (maybe attempting to actually crawl for the first time and not just lunging), possibly attempting to stand while holding onto something, learning to wave hello/goodbye, and improvement with his words. On a final note, here is the picture of Billy before he and his Mother left for the Doctor's office visit. He says bye. Have a great two weeks...