Six month update: state of the Alex.

[rivka]

Alex had her six-month doctor's visit today. She weighs seventeen pounds, 1.5 ounces, which explains why my arms are always tired. According to the pediatrician, she is also "very cute" and has a "great disposition," so, you know, it's good to have a diagnosis.

We have the all-clear to start exciting new solid foods, with the exception of any sort of peanut product, egg whites, wheat, and fish. (We'll probably start wheat around nine months, bony fishes and egg whites at a year, and peanuts and shellfish at two years or later.) Other than that, Alex can have whatever she seems to be able to tolerate. He thought we'd probably need to wait another month before giving her anything more challenging than purees, but it's up to her. So tomorrow, once we're sure that she's not going to have a reaction to today's vaccines, we'll start her on sweet potatoes or carrots. Yum.

In other news, he warned me to expect multiple colds this winter, but said that she doesn't need a flu shot unless we really want her to have one. He said he was impressed with her muscle tone and that we'd better childproof the house. And, after all of our mouth pain false alarms, he found a tooth bud that's imminently ready to break through the gum. (This time, the white swelling is on top of the gum, and not just in the front.) Go, Alex!

She's been a lovely child to have around, lately. She smiles all the time, laughs frequently, rarely cries. She throws her whole self into exploring her world, flinging her little body around the room towards the fascinating things that used to be just out of reach. (As I write this, she is rummaging through the diaper bag and, oh lovely, has found the plastic grocery bags we carry for used diapers. No Alex, not for babies.) She's not crawling yet, but she can scoot backwards or wiggle around in a circle, and can get surprisingly far. We frequently find her halfway under the couch.

When I leave her with Michael and go upstairs, she watches raptly as I disappear. When I come back down, radiant smiles. Her papa always gets a lovely greeting when he comes home from work - she grins as though she thinks he's hung the moon. She'll often wrap her arms around me and rest her head sweetly against my shoulder when I pick her up. The down side of all this lovely affection: she's started bursting into tears if I try to leave her with her toys while I go to the bathroom. She's not afraid of strangers - in fact, she flirts outrageously at every opportunity. Taking her out in public is a sure way to cheer her up. But she wants to experience strangers from securely in a parent's arms.

She still likes rhymes and poems, but has also started showing more interest in the pictures in her books. She likes to turn the pages, if I lift them slightly for her. She babbles. She likes it when we babble back.

I have always enjoyed six-month-olds - it's a great age, with the sitting and toy playing and cheerfulness. But wow, having my own six-month-old is fantastic.

Comments

[kip-w.livejournal.com]

By the time we got home with Sarah, my arms had gotten strong enough I could now hold our formerly too-heavy cat for indefinite amounts of time. Too bad the cat decided she could get a better deal somewhere else and split one day when I didn't let her back in fast enough. Though maybe that wasn't such a bad thing for Sarah. I still have a three-inch scar on one wrist from a moment of cat temper.

[casperflea.livejournal.com]

I love the stuck-backwards-under-the-couch phase, though for us it was at more like 8 mos. I've always loved kids between about 6 and 15 months - they're so charming and charmed by everything! When Casper hit 8 months I started to think, "Okay, I get why sane people do this a second time..."

[richtermom.livejournal.com]

Oh boy --the magical world of FOOD! And you're just in time, new studies say that it's okay for Americans to give their kids food with actual FLAVOR rather than just rice cereal. Squeaky loved hummus and curried chickpeas, and for her we ate a lot more avacados and sweet potatoes around our house.

And that whole alternative locomotion direction thing kind of sucked for us. Squeaky started scooting a little right after I started my job, so right when I was at the absolute nadir of sleep deprivation, she started scooting backwards and stuff. One evening I was down for a nap with her and she somehow backed down the whole length of the bed and fell off. THAT sucked.

[mactavish.livejournal.com]

When I worked in an infant center with kids a few days (I am not kidding through two years old, we worshipped at the feet of our Happy Baby baby food grinder. The price has hardly gone up in 20 years -- I think it was $11 in 1982, when I first bought one for a friend -- and it's just a miracle tool for going to restaurants, family dinners, etc.

[ailsaek.livejournal.com]

Fun, isn't it? :)

[ailbhe]

Yippee! Isn't mothering the best fun in the WORLD?

(OK, and the most exhausting and stressful, but STILL!)

[tavella.livejournal.com]

After all that trauma with the breast feeding and growing early on, I'm glad you are getting the chance to enjoy Alex properly without stress!

[minnaleigh.livejournal.com]

Thanks for the update! It's so fun to hear what Alex is up to these days.

[heidi8.livejournal.com]

Wow, she's HUGE! 2 lbs more than Catie, in fact! And yum on the sweet potatoes - they told you not to make your own carrots, right? We like stonyfield farm baby yogurt and tofu from miso soup, btw. And while peanuts should wait, sessame butter might be good in 2006.

[janetmiles.livejournal.com]

Not that I have kids, but why not make homemade carrot babyfood?

I'm not arguing, just requesting information.

[rivka.livejournal.com]

It's because of... shit, I always mix up nitrites and nitrates. Whichever the problem is, they are concentrated in commercial carrots (because of the farming process) to an extent that wouldn't hurt an adult but could be harmful to a baby. Carrots for baby food are specially grown.

[rivka.livejournal.com]

Aha! Here it is. (http://www.wholesomebabyfood.com/nitratearticle.htm)

[janetmiles.livejournal.com]

Thanks!

[heidi8.livejournal.com]

Nitrates in carrots, beets and other root veggies can't be processed by a baby's tummy before 6 months, possibly before eight months, and cna therefore cause Blue Baby syndrome, which can be fatal. While commercial manufacturers can't remove nitrates they can screen for them in a way that parents can't, so their carrots don't have dangerous levels of nitrates.

[hobbitbabe.livejournal.com]

she is also "very cute" and has a "great disposition," so, you know, it's good to have a diagnosis.

I agree about the reassurance of these professional diagnoses. My GP says I have exceptionally smooth breasts.

Just saying.

[orangemike.livejournal.com]

Part of what makes you the babe, nu?

[rivka.livejournal.com]

*swoons*

[hobbitbabe.livejournal.com]

*grins*

[orangemike.livejournal.com]

According to the pediatrician, she is also "very cute" and has a "great disposition," so, you know, it's good to have a diagnosis.

Don't worry, it's a condition she will grow out of naturally. ;)

[pegkerr.livejournal.com]

It's such a fun age. Six month olds are so cheery, and such flirts. Enjoy this stage. It's fantastic.

[lcohen]

alex, a flirt? i wonder where she picked up that quality?

give her a hug from me ;-) .

[rivka.livejournal.com]

alex, a flirt? i wonder where she picked up that quality?

Well, you did stay here with her for a whole week...

[lcohen]

and is she shapenote singing yet? i bet not!