Dancing Machine

Sipping

Jude has started drinking from a sippy cup, which he seems to really enjoy. He is also enjoying four teeth, cruising along the couch, and chasing the dog.

Sounds of the day

Here's Jude with today's sound.

Rise up with fists

No one can keep this kid down, restrained, or contained. On Saturday, just before our babysitter got here, Jude found that if he lifts his leg up onto the barrier, he can scale it. This new found skill allows him to reach his favorite thing--the computer. He is pulling up on anything he can get his hand on. He'll use the coffee table, a pant leg, the dog, anything.

Splish, splash

Laissez le bon bebe rouler

Jude had his first Mardi Gras parade today (in our living room). He caught so many beads for showing his big smile. Jude's first visit to NOLA was inutero, so he's hoping to go visit again soon. As soon as the house sells, I'm ready to make reservations at Chez Sheets!


I would love to have some king cake. I wonder where I can find one? I figure we've already got the baby :)

Well, that was fast

Jude decided crawling wasn't good enough, so today he did this. I have no idea when they're supposed to do this, but we weren't expecting it. I'm going to go ahead and sign him up for next year's NBA slam dunk contest.

Lu

In my last post, I believe I ended by talking of Lucy's interest in high chair. As you will see in the photos, Lucy has now fully explored the highchair. Upon her investigation, she found it was easy to get in but impossible to get out. She is motivated by Jude's Puffs. Once he tries to eat the Puffs, they get sticky and stick to his hands, bib, and the high chair. I'm typically able to get most of them, but Lu seeks out any I may have missed.

Jude is also enjoying the highchair, and he likes to use the bars to get up onto his knees.

Crawling

Jude has taken his first steps toward being a full time crawler. He took a few "steps" on Tuesday, and at the gym today he crawled all over the mat. He crawled more there, I think, because he was on a slick mat that let his knees glide and he didn't have to pick them up. I'm going to try him in the kitchen later to see if he likes crawling in there.

Our experiment in letting him put himself to sleep is going very well. So far, it has assisted with 3 nights of sleeping all night. We are so proud of him, and we are happy to be rested!

As you can see, we have also transferred from the Bumbo to the highchair. He loves having the tray in front of him, so he can bang things on it or eat Puffs off of it. I think it's only a matter of time before we find Lucy standing on it--she is intrigued.

"He's just a big dude"

Why is Jude still getting up in the wee hours for a snack?
"He's probably hungry. He's just a big dude," said our pediatrician at Jude's 6-month check up on Tuesday. Measuring in the 95th percentile for weight at 20 lbs. 4 oz., Jude is off the chart for height at 28 3/4 inches long.
Our doctor has encouraged us to continue to offer him a variety of new foods and textures since all previous attempts have gone so well. He is eating cereal, fruits, veggies, and even had some chicken this week. Jude also tried chewing something for the first time with the Gerber graduate puffs. The little Cheerio-like pieces also offer him good practice working his fine motor skills.
We met with a developmental therapist this week who will be following Jude's case, but she does not see a need for regular therapy. She will be coming in once a month to see him and check his milestones, but she was not particularly concerned with anything. The best part of her visit was learning some exercises Jude and I can do to help him think more about crawling and developing the muscle memory to do so.
This week, we have also started working on Jude being able to soothe himself to sleep. With his terrible acid reflux bout, we got into rocking him to sleep and holding him alot. Now he has trouble falling asleep without our intervention. In our move toward more sleep independence and better sleep, we hold Jude until he is grogy and he takes it home. This did not go well the first few times, but now he's down to about 10 minutes to fall asleep during the day. The big exception is the nighttime routine, which I think is going to take much longer to adjust. I know he can do it!