Six-Month-Old Mister

Cale is now six-months-old.  Boy that went by fast!   What a fun ride this has been!

He has acquired three nicknames.  From his daddy - “Giggle Britches” which is sometimes shortened to “G,” as in “What up, G?”  From Claire - “Sugar Cakes.”  We don’t know where she got this, but we think it’s so cute that she calls him that.  And from Mommy - “Mister” or sometimes “Little Mister.”  All three names fit him perfectly.

Cale is now 28” tall (only 10” shorter than Claire and only 2” too short to ride the roller coasters in Fantasy Land at Walt Disney World’s Magic Kingdom), putting him in the 90th percentile.  He weighs 17 lb 2.2 oz – 38th percentile.  Like Claire, he is a tall, skinny dude.

Cale has given up sleep.  I’m guessing we’re in the middle of the six-month growth spurt.  At night he wakes up about every three hours to eat.  His naps last as little as 20 minutes and no longer than two hours.  (I’m hoping to remedy this as soon as we move into a house away from noisy upstairs neighbors – only 20 days to go!)

We started him on solids.  First rice, which he hated.  Then oatmeal, which he hated.  Next up was peaches, and you all saw how sad those made him.  After that we tried bananas.  He’ll eat about two bites at a time before he starts blowing raspberries and refusing to open his mouth.  We also tried chicken.  He doesn’t like it either.  We’ve really got to get this boy to eat!  Our next effort will be veggies, since he apparently does not have a sweet tooth.  He can’t start yogurt until he’s about nine-months-old.

Perhaps our boy is just too busy to waste time trying new foods.  He is mastering milestones that one-year-olds are learning.  He can crawl very fast– no more army-man crawling.  He sits up alone.  He can pull himself up and stand supported.  He can throw balls and toys.  He will actually roll the ball back and forth with us or Claire for long periods of time.

He loves electronics and cords and cables.  He likes to take things apart and tries to put them back together.  He seems to be very mechanically-minded and analytical.  He even furrows his brow when he’s looking at something new and appears to be trying to figure out how it works.  He loves toys that make noise and light up and move.  His favorites right now are his musical zoo that he got for Christmas from Uncle Matt and Aunt Randi (in picture below) and his vTech laptop.  Both are very noisy.  He also likes to bang things together.  I recently bought him a Little Tikes workbench.  He loves to beat on it and uses the hammer to beat on other things too.

He has outgrown his infant car seat and has graduated to a regular convertible car seat.

This also means that he has to sit up in the grocery cart when we go shopping.  What a big boy!

He loves Claire.  He thinks everything she does is funny.  He also loves sitting with her in a chair or on the sofa all snuggled up.  They’re best buds!

Cale loves to scream.  Especially if we’re in a very public place where it might echo – like Walmart.  He takes after his Uncle Adam, who apparently used to have “screaming wheenies.”  Both boys like to scream just to hear the sound of their own voice and then crack up laughing when they get everyone’s attention.  Thanks, Uncle, for passing this on!

Cale hanging with Uncle

Cale has also started popping his lips and moving his mouth without making any sound.  He usually does this while watching someone talk.  He mimics their mouth movement.  I think he might take after both of his parents and his sister – once we learned to talk we haven’t stopped yet.  Our house is VERY noisy these days.  The soundtrack of my life is filled with laughter and squealing and singing and babbling and music from toys and the sound of banging.  Oh how I love it!  What a joy to be surrounded by such life!

Cale is quite an artist.  His first work of art appeared in my Mother’s Day Card this year.

Cale is very cuddly and snuggly.  He loves to be held.  He is everyone’s favorite in the church nursery and in the child center at the gym.  The workers at the gym told me that they get so excited when we call in and make a reservation.  They can’t wait to see him!  And when we take him to the nursery at church, all of the nursery workers jump up and run over to see who can get him first.  It’s so nice to have people love your kids.  I prayed that my babies would be a joy to be around, and they definitely are!

Cale is a happy little guy.  And he makes us happy too!  How very blessed we are!