My Sweet Journey: Will's Sixth Month! 7/11-8/10

6 MONTHS OLD today!! • halfway through my first year of life
and it has been epic! • I love sitting up all the time now! •
I went to the beach and played in the ocean for the first time •
it is my new favorite!! • I also played in the grass for the first time
and wanted to eat it so bad, but mom wouldn't let me • mom and dad
say that I make vacations a million times more fun and exciting •
favorite food is still milk, but I'm gonna start eating new foods soon •
my favorite toy is my exersaucer • my favorite game is
yelling/screeching back and forth with my mom and dad •
I wake up with the biggest smile on my face every morning •
I stare in amazement at my puppy, June, whenever I see her •
my favorite time of day is bath time where I completely spaz out
in the water and splash like a crazy person the whole time •
I have started babbling more and say "mamamamamama" when
I'm sad which just melts my mom's heart • I think it's funny to
pretend to cough • life has been pretty amazing for this first half year!

As I look back at this month in Will's life, I realize that aside from our big week long vacation to San Diego with the Mertz family, there were not a lot of big events of note (not that a week vacation wasn't eventful enough). There were a lot of little experiences and milestones throughout the month, the big one being Will learning to sit up! Will LOVES sitting in his Bumbo seat and getting a proper view of the room and the world around him, so I am so excited for when he could sit himself up and play with his toys! It is funny how much you long for the milestones to be reached, but then grieve a bit when they do because you miss the stage before. This was starting to happen more often between rolling and now sitting and crawling is not far off... basically I mourn the movement milestones, but am so proud of my boy when he accomplishes them!

We started our sitting up practice by propping him up with the boppy pillow. He loved this, because while he was developing the core strength to sit (which he did very quickly) we hadn't developed it enough to prevent himself from falling over. The boppy pillow made it so he had lots of padding around him to catch him.

I could set Will up in the sitting position and he was so content with the toys within his reach! He was developing a deep love of Mickey Mouse and most of all Winnie the Pooh! His mini Winnie the Pooh stuffed animal, was his favorite and he loved chewing and squeezing and throwing him. He did not like however when it would eventually be out of his reach from the throwing.

Eventually he was able to sit up without the boppy support! The problem was, now that he knew what the world was like while sitting, that is all he wanted to do and wasn't content to lay down anymore. Since he wasn't able to put himself in the sitting position, play time involved a lot of me picking him up and repositioning him!

His other playtime entertainment was of course the exersaucer! Oh I will be so sad when he grows out of this or no longer finds it so fun! I'll have him in it a lot when I need to clean the house or make dinner or do dishes! He is so content just spinning and bouncing and chewing on everything!

Another new source of interest was the monsoon season! Oh this is the ONLY good thing about summertime in Phoenix - the rain and thunder! Will was transfixed by it and every chance I could, I would sit outside with him or have the back door open so he could smell the rain and hear all the fun new sounds. Our back patio has a tin roof, so the rain sounds especially spectacular!

Jen and I got our little February babies together again for some baby fun! Will gets a lot of time with his cousins and aunts and uncles, but hasn't had a lot of time with babies his size (other than at swim practice and occasionally at church on Sundays). Will and Caleb are FINALLY starting to notice each other when we hang out, which is so entertaining. This particular playdate, we started to see their personalities come out with Will being a talker and Caleb being the silent physical type.

Also, one thing that my mom always told me was that I should try to capture a few pictures of my kids crying. I found that a funny idea, but it does make sense when most of the pictures are of them smiling or making silly faces. Since I want to remember everything about Will and all his many different sides, his crying face is definitely something I want saved. While it breaks my heart, it is also pretty funny when he cries (which honestly is really only when he is really hungry or really tired).