He is a half a year old. Yay!

He is starting to look and act like such a little boy now!  He's even eating solid foods now, pureed of course!

The latest tally is oatmeal, lentils, rice, barley/spelt, prunes, and even pumpkin!  AND he's cut his first tooth already!! He's growing so fast.

More pics can be seen in his online web-albums,

by clicking on his new album on the left, called:

Munchkin (6-9mths)

And I'm so grateful to stay at home with him and not miss any of his new discoveries!  Like how his voice can make all sorts of sounds: high, low, growl, gurgle, scream, and hum!  Those moments are priceless, and knowing me, I'll soon forget most of them; unless, of course, I share those things with all of you by writing about them here. So, let's do the tally of all his latest and greatest achievements:

1. Sits up on his own very well

2. Turns himself around in his exersaucer

3. Can pull my hair pretty hard now :)

4. When he's had his fill of cereal, or prunes, or pumpkin, he can SPIT it out rather far!

5. He can hold his own bottle now, but doesn't know yet to raise it when it's almost empty :P

6.Plays with his own feet. In my mind, it doesn't get any more cute than that!

7. Pulls his socks off (result of #6). (If he can't get them off, he'll just lean forward and bite through his socks!)

But without a doubt his greatest achievement, for which I am MOST proud (because I had a small hand in it) is that he can NOT ONLY put himself to sleep, BUT ALSO soothe himself back to sleep if he wakes in the night. So this means he routinely sleeps from 9/9:30 to 7:30/8. Hallelujah!  This is really, REALLY BIG for us. I'm so proud of him to be doing this at 6 months :)  The small part that I had in this wonderful accomplishment? NOT picking him up! Haha!  It was incredibly hard to let him cry. I would lie on the couch and repeat to myself: "He doesn't need me. He can do it. He's not hungry. He's just learning a new skill."

"I can't help him learn it. He needs to do it on his own!"  It didn't take him so long though, 5-10 minutes of real crying.  Then I'd go in to turn him on his side and give him his silky blankie.  He'd absolutely scream cause I didn't pick him up, then after a few moments, he'd just fuss/cry out for 5-10 more minutes, and then be out like a light til morning.

Since this is truly a gift to me, may I make a short acceptance speech!?
"Thank you, dear Lord, for his incredible gift! Heartfelt thanks also goes to my sister Bonnie, whose vast  experience (4 kids) made it all possible!  I would NOT have believed it possible in the first place, if I didn't know her kids are good sleepers, and that her methods were born of much hard work. Thanks Bon!"

He is positively amazing to watch sometimes! Like when I see his eyes do a double take when his fingers feel a new texture for the first time, which happened when he felt the buttons on this remote for the first time.  It melts my heart to see him smile upon hearing "Bah Bah Black Sheep" sung, or smile when he hears Dora's happy voice in the mornings! (Yes, I'll admit it. He watches Dora with Daddy.)

One of the lesser talked about developmental milestones is his pincher claw!  (No pic! Must be experienced firsthand.) He pinches positively everything within his reach: my lips, my nose, my eyebrows, his chubby thighs, his belly, his belly button, his toes, toys, magazines, his clothes, my clothes, his silky sleep blankie -- EVERYTHING! And boy does it hurt. But no one seems to warn you about that little milestone :P

The story behind this pic is SO funny to me!  We were *just* about to leave for the BookBabies class at a local library.  I placed him on the couch outside the laundry room with a few toys while I switched a load of diapers. (What's that take? Like 2 minutes at most!)  I returned to find him fast asleep with his toys in his lap! He didn't wake until we got to the library! Too funny!

Here's some more cute pics to entertain you,

and celebrate his big "half" Birthday!

"Dad, is Ellie allowed in the bed?"

Yep, you're seeing that right.

He's sitting and playing with his toys, all by himself, no supports!

Here's a hat that a friend of ours knitted for him when he

was a newborn that's fitting him perfectly now!

(This is one of my all time favorite pics of him. Thanks Barbara!)

"Come on, Mom. I'm only eating! What's the big deal!?"

"You're holding your own bottle now, big boy!"

Oh, and his latest nicknames are "Oboe the BoBo" and "Rajibo."

So there you have it: a rundown of our little Baladu (baby boy in Telugu).

Happy *half* Birthday Baby! Don't forget to leave your comments after reading the posts!