Alexander Appleseed

Six months old yesterday! Wow, the time flies!

Today was the 6 month check-up. Stats: 22.5 lbs and 27 inches! So he hasn't gained much weight (tell that to his parents as they trek around with him, especially up the stairs to our 2nd story duplex!), but it looks like he's grown! The dr. said he's healthy and lookin' good.

We also got the go-ahead for a super-major milestone today: eating solid food. The dr. said that she didn't think that "baby food" was actually necessary, and that a slightly modified version of adult food was all that we needed. In other words, no need to actually use a food processor, we could just mush or scrape or mix things to make them swallowable, and that would be good enough. So, our debut dinner was raisins and apples. Auntie Cate happened to stop by and say hello just as the great even began, so she and her friend Phil got to witness Alex's first taste of apples. Dan fed him, I took pictures, Cate fed him a couple of bites, Phil looked on, and Sydney sat in the corner, being the overlooked and underappreciated older sister.

Alex didn't seem to get the idea of opening his mouth, but he did understand helping Daddy to bring the spoon to his mouth. He would reach for the spoon and bring it to his mouth with so much enthusiasm, and then only open his mouth a few milimeters, not really enough to get the spoon and the apples inside. He can open his mouth wide enough to get most of the head of his stuffed dog in his mouth, but not some mushed apple? I don't know about this kid! The raisins were amusing, too. I put one in his mouth, he gummed and gummed, with a confused look on his face. Two minutes later, still gumming, still looking not quite happy. I guess he finally swallowed the raisin. Eventually he wasn't chewing anymore, and a close inspection of the inside of his mouth showed no concealed raisins, although I was watching for him to swallow and I didn't see that, either.

Here are some pictures from the evening. Check out the cow bib.

I'm a little psycho calf. Having my first meal. Mmmmm...apples.

Look, I actually have my mouth open...Mommy makes up stories about me all the time!

Let me help you, Daddy, it goes down here!

Perfect! Yummy apples!