Half Birthday

Ben is 6 months old today! Since he is totally out of luck in the birthday department (December 30, so much for family planning), we are going to have to make a big deal about his half birthdays.

He celebrated his very first half birthday by eating all his carrots...

...playing a little music

... having a party in his crib (don't worry, he can't actually do this on his own yet)

...and by staying up until nearly 10pm, which is quite later than usual. I think it was the outfit that put him in such a festive mood (A monkey! On a bicycle! Too cute).

At his six month check up today the numbers confirmed what my lower back has been telling me for weeks: Ben is a member of the gigantosaurus variety of baby.

Height: 27 1/4" (I'm not convinced that this is accurate, as he was quite squirmy)

Weight: 20 pounds!!!

Head: 44 cm

His body has now outpaced his head, as he is in the 90th percentile for height and weight and only 55th for head circumference. His head got off to a very early start as you will recall, and it is now taking a break.

His personality is emerging more and more each day. It's such a delight to watch. Everywhere we go people remark on what a happy baby he is. He smiles and laughs for everyone.

His favorite thing to do is to reach for any and everything he can get his hands on. He is an indiscriminate grabber of remotes, cell phones, keys, necklaces, and eyeglasses (his favorite), amongst other things. He loves to pull my glasses off and have a good laugh at how silly I look without them. He then slobbers all over them with a very proud look on his face.

He's even picked up a few things from Mortimer in the tug of war department because when he has something he's not supposed to, like the straw he grabbed out of my drink today, it's quite an effort to get it away from him. He is also starting to get upset when not doing exactly what he wants to do (eating paper from a magazine, for example, or having to sit on his own because I sometimes tire of holding his fingers so that he can stand up and wiggle around). I'm sure these are just the beginning of many more battles to come as he learns to exert his independence more and more. I just wasn't expecting it to happen so soon!