Dear William,

Momma has some catching up to do on her monthly letters to you!

You turned 6 months old on April 29 and have officially moved from being our little baby to our little man. Even more so now that you are just over 7 months old. You have the sweetest personality, the best smiles and snuggles and Daddy and I love you more than anything in the entire world.

At your 6 month checkup you weighed 14lb, 15 oz and were 27 inches long. I'm fairly sure that you are now already up over 16 lbs. You are a very tall little boy and have the best little baby thighs and cankles.

Some of the things you love right now:

Your dog. She has become much more interested in you now that you eat more than just mashed up food. She waits patiently for anything to drop from your high chair and while she is standing there hoping for a puff or a piece of cantaloupe to drop, you just smile and laugh at her from your chair.

Food. You have been a good eater since we were able to start you on cereal. But you now are so much more interested in all food and drinks that those around you are eating. You have mastered eating your Gerber puffs and we've moved on to some other finger foods like scrambled eggs, pancakes, toast, melon, avocados and pears. You have a hard time with some of the more slippery foods but you will get there soon enough and be picking up anything we give you in no time. You are also great at drinking water from your sippy cup and can even hold the cup by yourself most of the time. We also use eating time in your high chair to teach you new things like clapping and sign language for the words "more" and "drink". You haven't figured out the last 2 yet but I'm hopeful that with enough practice you will soon!

Your walker. This has been your favorite toy since we put you into it at 3 months old. You no longer just walk around in it, you run when you can. Daddy and I are diligent about keeping the basement door closed and keeping you a good distance away from your dog when she is eating, but other than that you can pretty much go where you want when you are in it. You love to "talk" while running around and your favorite time of day to be in it is when Daddy gets home from work and you can run to greet him. You are pretty good about keeping your toys on your walker so that you can play with them and luckily don't seem to make a habit of throwing things only for the amusement of watching us pick them up for you. Although I'm sure that will happen soon enough!

Sleeping. You go to bed between 7:00 and 8:00 now, which is just a little later than you had been for the last few months. For the most part, we can put you in your crib, read to you and you will fall asleep on your own and sleep for 11-12 hours. If you wake up, it is not regularly and most of the time you will fall back to sleep on your own. You are in the midst of teething right now, though, so that has changed things up a bit for all of us and there have been some sleepless nights mixed in with the usual good nights. You are now a belly sleeper like your momma and love to sleep with your legs tucked in up under your belly. It is the cutest thing ever.

Playing/Singing songs. You love to clap when we sing Patty Cake or If You're Happy and You Know It. Watching you clap was one of the funniest things at first because you would keep one fist closed and "clap". You like when I sing to you in the car and I do so often.

Some of the things you don't love right now:

Strangers/Loud noises/Crowds. You cry at the end of church when we celebrate birthdays and other special events by clapping. You also don't do well at first when you are brought into a large crowd of people and prefer only your mom and dad until you warm up to being there. You have mastered the boo boo lip and are very good at giving it to strangers or even people you know well when you are not in the mood to be passed off from mom & dad.

Teething. This has thrown you, me and daddy for a loop. You cut your first tooth on Friday, May 31. The night before you cut your first tooth you had daddy and I up for almost 3 hours, tag teaming to calm you down and get you back to sleep. Every time we thought we had you down you would wake right back up again within just a few minutes. We had no idea that you were finally popping a tooth through! You had been working on it for months by that point. Needless to say, none of us got very much sleep that night but once momma saw your little tooth poking through in the morning it made the sleepless night (almost) totally worth it. You cut your second tooth exactly one week + one day later on Saturday, June 8. You have also been our little low-grade fever runner throughout your teething. Not to mention that for a week prior to your teeth popping through your wet diapers smelled much stronger than usual.

Napping. You are all over the place when it comes to naps. You will take them some days and other days you just don't feel a need for them. We do not have a true napping schedule in place and you will sleep in your crib, in the car or on me if I let you. Momma is ok with you not being 100% scheduled with your napping because it allows us flexibility to be on the go with you grabbing a nap in the car, if needed. But, you are a bear when you don't get a nap all day so we try to squeeze in at least a good morning or afternoon nap if we have a busy day planned. That said, a long nap for you is typically no longer than 90 minutes.

Things you are learning/have learned:

Rolling over/Sitting up/Crawling. You are the king of rolling over and use it as your method to get from point A to point B. You can sit up without assistance most of the time but have not completely mastered it quite yet. You are an army crawler but when you get up on your hands and knees to try crawling you are still only able to rock back and forth and haven't figured out how to get your arms and legs to work together quite yet. And boy do you get frustrated at yourself when you realize you're not crawling. But I promise you that soon enough you will be fully mobile and will be giving us a run for our money.

Clapping/Sign language. You picked up on clapping after only about a day of practicing. But, like I said before, your clapping at first was with one hand open and one hand closed. You're such a silly little man. And momma is working on sign language with you here and there. I'd like you to learn to say "more" in order to alleviate you from banging on your high chair tray when you want more food. I know we will get there in time!

You are such a sweetheart, William. Daddy and I have so much fun playing with you and watching you grow. You are an amazing little person and you take in so much of the world around you. We love you all the way to the moon and back.

Love,
Your Momma

William, 6 months - April 29, 2013

William, 7 months - May 29, 2013