She had her 6-month check-up yesterday. 13 lb 8 oz (10%-ile), 26" (61%-ile). She got her vaccines and everything looks good!
We started her on some oatmeal cereal last week, which she seems to enjoy. She grabs my hand and pulls on it to get the spoon to her mouth. The first time she was fed, she seemed a bit skeptical, but immediately caught on (see pictures below). She had peas for the first time last night. Much less impressed with those.
She's been doing fantastic on her tummy time. Set her on her back and she almost immediately turns to her side and over on her tummy. Her teacher at daycare informed me that she surprised herself last week by managing to propel herself forward for a toy. I have a feeling my immobile baby won't stay that way for long. Her big milestone recently is sitting. We didn't use the Boppy at all for her at home, but she's able to sit up for minutes without toppling over. (For comparison, Felix was over 6 months old before he was able to sit up for 30 seconds at a time.) Must be those strong abs of hers. She's also made a big leap in "talking". She goes on big streaks where she practices her B, F, and V sounds (like in the video below). I think it's cute, but I'm a little biased. :o)
Felix's imagination has been going wild. He is a firm believer in monsters, ghosts, Spiderman, Santa Claus, and Bigfoots (yes, plural). He believes any cloud in the sky could spawn a tornado. He believes Mr. Noodle is creepy (we may have planted the seed on that one). He believes shooting is an acceptable way to deal with naughty things (argh!). And above all, he believes that he is the Master of the house. We've been struggling a bit to correct this notion reasonably. (Man, 3 year olds are incredibly egocentric!) He has tantrums when he doesn't get his way or when we make unreasonable requests (like asking him to try to use the potty). This is a phase that can end, and soon! He does do an excellent job of sharing, though, and we've tried to get him involved in meal preparation, which he enjoys. We're trying to wean him off the notion that treats are a necessary part of his daily food intake. We're making some progress - he'll ask for oranges and apples instead, which we are happy to give.
On the home front, we seem to be getting our reality check for the short, mild winter we had last year. We've been cooped up inside too long, and it shows. We're all constantly sick and crabby. The sooner the snow melts and we can get back outside, the better! But alas, there always seems to be snow in the forecast just when things are starting to look promising for a good thaw.
We have made a change for the better, though. I never really thought it possible, but we cut our cable on the 22nd and went internet-only. We rarely watched anything but sporting events live, and realized that the majority of the shows we recorded were available the next day online somewhere anyway. So, we got a Roku (better picture quality and access to many 'channels'), bought a lifetime subscription to Playon (easy access to most of the channels we watch including sports channels), signed up for Amazon Prime in addition to our Netflix and Hulu access, hooked up a pair of rabbit ears for the local channels and we're good to go! Last weekend was our first big test... and we got through it just fine! No more mindless TV on in the background. Now we have to be more conscious of what we put on. We have a TED Talk channel, on which we watched several interesting, short talks (Nick's already hooked). We've added several science shows to our queues to share with Felix. And to top it off, the Roku model we got has a built-in Angry Birds game that even Felix can play. It's also making us go old-school more often, like when we listened to a Badger basketball game on the radio a few nights ago.
Under the category of "what the?!", I learned that the video I posted on YouTube of Felix singing Bruder Jakob/Frere Jacque back when he was a little over 2 years old (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OPPk-aRFOak) has had over 1,135 views, with over half in Germany, Austria and Switzerland. That's pretty cool!
And finally, because it's just so darn cute... a picture Iris's teacher took of her at daycare. Happy Friday!
Felix: 3.5 yrs & Iris: 6 mos
