manning 6-month check-up

since mason was at school (yes, he really did have school today and took his teacher gifts with him), madelyn and maddux joined me for manning's 6-month check-up.  he fell asleep on the ride over and i had to wake him up for his measurements.  he did not take very kindly to being woken up from a deep sleep and removed from his snugly carrier only to be stripped naked with my cold hands to be weighed and measured.  the doctor later pointed out that his height was less than last time.  maybe it was because of the way he was driving his head up with his heels while screaming on the table?  here are his stats:

height: 29 inches (99th percentile)
weight: 21 pounds (94th percentile)
head circumference: 18 inches (97th percentile)

the summary is that he is healthy, developmentally on track and happy.  he generally does not like to have his head touched and he did not want the doctor to look in his ears - at all.  we did talk a little bit about diet because there are some new recommendations on proteins being introduced earlier but since we do "super baby foods" she didn't think we need to do anything differently since they do grain proteins fairly early (manning is more or less already doing that).

so what else is manning like at 6-months? he loves to eat.  he loves to nurse, he loves any (well most) foods the very first time they are offered.  he has just started homemade brown rice porridge and whole milk yogurt.  he has been eating three meals a day for at least a month now.  here are the other foods he is eating: bananas (he can eat two fresh mashed bananas in one sitting), sweet potatoes, avocado, nectarines, peaches, plums, prunes, pears, mango, brown rice, millet, pumpkin, squash and whole milk yogurt.  i think he might love yogurt as much as maddux (which is saying something because maddux begs for yogurt all day long!  he will eat two at breakfast and asks for some at almost every meal and snack).  the foods have made a huge difference in his digestive system as well.  he now poops almost twice a day.  i don't love the extra diapers, but i do like daily assurance that his digestion is working well.

manning seems to have dry skin like mason, but not quite as bad.  he is just starting to get the thick dry patches on his ankles that mason had that need extra lotion and attention.  no big deal.

he is very, very chatty.  if he is awake, he is normally making some sort of noise.  he added "da-da-da" two weeks ago and "ba-ba-ba" this past week.  he sounds like he is saying "hi" very clearly most of the time.  we have not counted any of these as "first words" though.

there is a lot of love between his siblings and him.  lots.  maddux is especially attentive to our littlest man and alerts me the second he spits up or cries.

we are working on sitting.  well, i should say "sitting comfortably".  he doesn't fall over to the side.  he just slowly leans more and more forward until he gets stuck and seems like he can't breath very well.  but this is after like ten minutes of sitting and playing.

he reaches for items around him very well and seems excited about his sister and brother's toys that are a little too close.

i think he might be a blanket kid.  we haven't had anyone attach to a blanket, but i think he might be the first (and last).  he sucks his thumb, but i think he prefers chewing on a burp cloth and i have found him many mornings 'snuggled' up with the edge of the ultimate crib sheet (a flat sheet that attaches to the crib instead of the mattress).  i might just have to sew him one!

we could not have asked for a more perfect temperament in our fourth.  he was a little high maintenance for the first three months, but he is a dream now.  we get lots of comments about how happy and easy he is (although we got a lot of those the first three months too).  he is always quick to smile at any one who looks his way.  love.