Baby Will: 6 months.

This wonderful baby of mine is six months old. He is just the most joyous little squish, and we are so glad he's ours.

This month has been some fun slow/steady development for Will, with lots more babbling, wiggling, and core strength. We've had him start doing planks, obviously. The core strength mainly means that he's started scooting everywhere by accident because he kicks SO hard to express his feelings.

There's this funny thing with babies-after-kid-one where you bring them home and are all "omg this is great they can't go anywhere!" and you set them anywhere, on top of ledges and things because it's pretty safe, right? And then one day they move, or kick so hard the bouncer moves across the floor, and you realize....maybe we should buckle them into things most of the time. That's where we are. Almost at another little mover!

Will, like his big sister, is so far more verbal than physical. He loves sitting up and standing but can't do either on his own, but will lie on his back and chat at the ceiling for decent chunks of time, which is great for me to get literally anything done and not great for his flat head. He's generally very content as long as someone is near him or talking to him, so he hangs out with me in the kitchen while I do dishes and cook, lies on the bed while I fold laundry, and kicks around on Beck's floor while we read books. I'm not huge into Mandatory Forced Test Prep Baby Activities; I believe that kids existing in the world and being talked to like tinylittlepumpkinbabysquishyloveyousomuch regular humans feels perfectly stimulating to me and to them.

This is a controversial opinion, and I'm cool with where I've landed on this.

Sleep is still going well-ish, with two naps per day (hardcore on the 2/3/4 schedule although he can't make it four hours at bedtime yet), then sleeping 11-12 hours at night and waking up once or twice to eat. He's so sweet at night with grateful little coos that I don't mind getting up with him, and he goes right back to sleep. He goes to the doctor this week for his 6 month check and if he has gained a lot of weight I may see about cutting those night feedings, but I also may keep them for another few weeks.

The reason for not being super against the night feedings is this: We still swaddle Will at night, so if his paci falls out and he can't put it back in himself AND it's been six or so hours until he's eaten, it seems fair to go feed the poor dude. Once he's a little better at rolling back-to-front I'll unswaddle him and leave him to fend for himself, but why rush it is my thought. Beck dealt with her night feedings after she was unswaddled, and I'm thinking Will will as well. And if he doesn't...baby sleep training thunderdome.

I've started a few bites of food for Big Willy, and he's very medium on it. The concentration it takes to process things that aren't liquid is SO cute to watch, and he's gotten several bites of avocado and mashed sweet potato down so far. I have a feeling that banana will blow his ever loving mind, and will report back with favorite baby foods, round 2 ASAP!

The most fun thing this month has been watching Beck and Will's ever-evolving relationship. She basically talks to him just like we do, with lots of cooing and "goo goo gaga," and rushing about to tell me anytime she hears him crying out in his room. She RACES into his room as soon as she's allowed and climbs halfway into the crib yelling "WILLY, I'M HERE! MAMA IS COMING!" and then rushes back out to inform me that "you are the one who needs to get him, Mama, he is waiting for you."

It's hilarious, and also thank God she hasn't taken it upon herself to try to get him out of the crib yet.

Will, for his part, seems to adore Beck and be startled by her at the same time. She gets SOCLOSE to his face and pretty much yells but in a happy way, and he takes it very calmly and generally rewards her with a grin. It melts me in a way I didn't think much could, seeing the two of them grinning at each other, forehead to forehead.

Parenting the two of them together is 80% excellent and 20% juggling in a more-stressful-manner-than-I'd-like, but I think that's kind of...duh. Someone recently told me some thing about how you have a second child for the first, and a third for yourself aka let's not do that. I definitely wanted Beck to have a sibling, that wonderful connected feeling without having to explain it. It's not always like that for all siblings, obviously, but at this young stage in their relationship I'm taking it for all it's worth.

Also she picked him up by his head last week so that was neat.

The end!