Six months old + baptized

Rowan is just about six months now and he is a little bruiser.  He is basically off the charts for weight, nearly 21 pounds now, and he is pretty tall at 27 1/2 inches.  He wears 12-18 month size clothing.  He is a beast.

A beast? Moi??

We are very fortunate that overall Rowan is a healthy little boy.  He does sneeze a lot - I wonder if he has allergies like me.  We're also managing his baby eczema - a common winter ailment with infants.  We are constantly slathering his forehead with Aquafor and unfortunately he tends to attack his head with his little baby nails when he is agitated.  And we are going to an eye doctor next week - his eyes still tend to cross (as evident in the photo above.)  They don't cross all the time and his vision and hand-eye coordination seem great, so we're hoping it will be an easy fix.  But there may be some baby eye patch photos in the future ...

We call these his "nose ring" toys ...

Rowan continues to find solace in his bedroom.  He still loves to stretch and play on his changing table.  He can put his feet in his mouth and frequently does.  I'm glad we've made his room such a positive place for him - we're currently transitioning to the crib and it has been difficult, but at least he enjoys being in his room and is used to it.

Rowan and his out-of-control eyelashes

Rowan has also become quite the flirt.  He is still quite serious a lot of the time, but we get a lot more grins, giggles, and coy little glances now.  He has a somewhat new move where puts his chin down then turns his head to the side while giving an innocent, wide-eyed stare.  It kills us every time.

Thoughtful Rowan

Rowan is continuing to try different foods.   He has moved on from rice cereal to multigrain and usually loves it.  He has also tried purees of prune, apple, banana, and carrots.  So far apple and banana are his favorites.  He mastered eating with a spoon pretty quickly, but sometimes he makes a mess anyway, especially when he's losing interest.  And sometimes he makes a mess because he's showing us a new trick:

 We had Rowan baptized on January 21 at St. Joseph's, my home parish in Fredonia.  I was nervous about how he would handle the ceremony since he gets bored easily and isn't always a fan about changing clothes.  To our happy surprise, Rowan was a total champ - he didn't have a single meltdown and he did extremely well during the actual ceremony.  Most of Ben's family made the trip to Fredonia and we had a great time packing into my parent's house afterward for dinner.  It was a lot of fun to have an event that got everyone together.

Rowan's Likes: Cereal (usually), peek-a-boo, playing with his feet, being held/walking around, "bicycling" his legs, bath time, bananas, apples
Rowan's Dislikes: Riding in the car (still, but getting a little better), being bored, waiting

The boy wizard

I try really hard not to laugh too loud or talk too much in videos - but Rowan's newest "trick" just cracks me up way too much.  This is now what we do after bath time.

Five months old + holiday times

The holidays always stress me out, though I try to remain calm and cool.  I know it's all about family and friends and relaxing and ultimately that is all that ends up mattering - but I can't seem to help getting wound up as the holidays approach.  So of course I was extra concerned about coping with all the travel and whatnot with a five month old baby.  Then a whole bunch of unforeseen stuff happened resulting in our staying in Rochester until late Christmas day.  It ended up being kind of nice to have a quiet Christmas Eve at home, just the three of us.  I made a fancy dinner with duck cassoulet and we exchanged gifts and watched Christmas specials while Rowan treated it just like any other evening. :)

*grin*

We went to Fredonia first, arriving in time for a late Christmas dinner.  Rowan also attended his first Boxing Day party and was fairly sociable.  We stopped back in Rochester to regroup (and unexpectedly replace our broken thermostat) before heading to Ithaca.  Rowan seemed very content with all of the family love.

Rowan in his favorite sleeping position with Matt.

Rowan actually did pretty well overall considering all the unfamiliar places, sights, and smells.  This kid is really a homebody.  He was visibly excited to get home, looking everywhere with a big smile and talking up a storm (see below for more on "talking.")

This is basically where he was at by the end of the week.

So we made it through the holidays in a rental Hyundai sedan whilst my van remains at a collision shop for going on three weeks now.  This kid does not travel light and it was hard to pack without the roominess of my beloved Caravan.  He just upgraded to a conversion car seat (after outgrowing his super-sized birth-one year infant car seat) and that helped make all the rides a little smoother.  In fact he rode all the way to Rachael's house on New Year's Day without much complaint at all - and then he was super good and social the whole time we were there.  And then he fell asleep on the way home - AND THEN he continued to nap for nearly an hour after I set him in his bed.  I was afraid I had the wrong kid ... :)

But Rowan's passionate hatred of auto travel is old news - in new news, he's eating rice cereal and doing very well with it.  He basically mastered eating from a spoon in one day.  We make it a little on the thick side - it seems to make it easier for him to get it down his gullet - and sometimes we add a little pear juice or prune juice to sweeten it up a bit.  We'll probably start introducing baby food in a week or so - and Aunt Lauren (our close friend, Ben's "best man", soon to be Rowan's godmother, former pastry chef, and current farm dweller) is SO excited to start making him some purees!

Perfunctory messy-baby-trying-to-eat-with-spoon shot

And one more for the road

Rowan started cooing weeks ago, but this month he has gotten MUCH more talkative and expressive.  I remember being kind of disappointed in the second and third months because it seemed like he never smiled.  Now we can get him to smile all the time.  Giggles are still a little rare, but much more common.  It's hard to catch his awesome expressions on camera, though, because he is the most expressive when face-to-face with me or Ben.  As soon as we get the camera out he just stops and stares, as evidenced by this video where I sneak up on him during a lengthy diatribe:

He makes the best faces and Ben and I are constantly cracking up.  His eyebrows are always moving and he frequently arched just one, making an utterly bemused face.  I'm not sure whether he is doing it on purpose.  He seems to be rapidly developing a very wry sense of humor ... [side note: the video looks old-timey because I had accidentally smeared Aquafor ointment on the lens and didn't notice until afterward. Oops.]

Rowan's Likes: Either of us rubbing our head on his belly (but esp. Ben), baths, talking, "raspberries" (on his belly or just seeing us do it), standing with help, being tossed (very gently) in the air, looking at pictures or video of himself or other kids, looking at still pictures of kids, rice cereal, being naked
Rowan's Dislikes: The car (usually), being bored, any kind of discomfort (causing him to scratch violently at his head), waking up from a nap (often), getting dressed

First christmas tree + general cuteness

We have a lot of traditions with friends & family and I am looking forward to Rowan becoming a part of those traditions.  Today is actually Belsnickel Day, a fun and quirky Dankert tradition.  Rowan won't be able to really participate in this one until he is a old enough to know what is going on.  Long (and probably made up) story short, the Belsnickel is a rather maniacal, bell-covered henchman to Santa Claus and he comes around after dark on December 5th, pounding on and slamming doors, shaking his bells and throwing in treats for good kids (coal for bad ones.)  He also picks up your Christmas list from the mailbox and takes it to Santa.  My sister and I always loved Belsnickel Day, probably mostly because we didn't know anyone else who celebrated it (other than relatives and close family friends that caught our weirdness.)

One of our other Christmas traditions is getting our tree at Power's Farm Market with our friends Rachael & Jake the first weekend of December.  Rowan wasn't too impressed by the trees this year, but he did enjoy looking at the lights.  Next year I'm sure he'll have fun running around, checking out the animals, and helping pick our tree.

These trees do not impress me.

Our little family

Simple, beautiful lights display!

I love having the Christmas tree up - it makes the house feel so warm and peaceful.  I have a tendency to leave it up excessively long.  Other than the tree, I don't usually put up much else for decorations.  Of course, once Rowan gets older I might come up with some fun ideas if I can get him psyched about crafting.

This kid is too cute - he can be so expressive (rarely when the camera is out, though.)  I always get a big grin when I come home, even though I'm only gone for about six hours most days.  He gets especially excited when he's on his changing table and I get right in his face - he scrunches up his whole face into the biggest grin and coos really loudly.  So wonderful.  Of course, he can also be very moody - lately he's been snapping from that delirious happiness into crazed unhappiness.  One second he's smiling and giggling, and literally the next he's tearing up and his lip is quivering.  Maybe the teething pain is just coming in waves.  We try to keep our boy happy.

Oh - hey, Mom.

Four months old + counting

It seems like Rowan got super strong and agile overnight!  A few weeks ago he started grabbing things and now he's pretty good at it.  There have been a few times when he got frustrated because he forgot how to let go.  :)  He can also grab his feet and he is clearly very proud of it.

Now how do I get this entire thing in my mouth??

Hey birds! Look what I can do!

Rowan's Likes: Grabbing his cage ball, raspberries on his belly, having his chin or belly tickled, "fighting" with Chewy (the bear), snuggling, chewing on his hands/bibs/burp cloths

Rowan's Dislikes: Going to bed, the car seat, being away from home

Oh, hi.  I'm just busy growing out of my 9 month clothes.

I noticed this week that Rowan's left eye is starting to turn in a lot again - it had seemed like it was getting better.  Oh well, he's still young and his vision seems good.  And he's gotten very good at following moving objects with both eyes.  He also makes good eye contact now.

Teething is probably going to be a challenge.  However, we have found some homeopathic remedies, plus we have baby Tylenol for when he's really in agony.  Rowan is also getting fairly good at self-soothing - he likes to chew on soft things like his hands, his bib, a burp cloth, or one of our hands.  Occasionally he'll go for his cold teething ring.  Distraction is often the best remedy.  Rowan likes to play with Mom & Dad:

Rowan's first Thanksgiving + meeting more friends

Rowan had a rough start to the holiday week.  It would appear he is officially teething - he's drooling a lot and chewing on his hands, bibs, and burp cloths a lot.  He must have been in a lot of pain earlier this week because he was extremely fussy, including pushing away his bottle a lot and basically refusing to eat.  It might have been that his mouth was sore, but I've also heard that teething can cause an upset stomach, too.  I'm sure with all the extra saliva a fair amount ends up in his belly and bugs him.  He was also up all hours of the night - I know lots of new parents have to deal with that continually, but we're not used to it.  The other problem was that he wasn't getting any good naps in either which added to his irritation.

This basically sums up last week.

Finally, and fittingly, the craziness broke on Thanksgiving and he's been doing a lot better the past few days.  He's eating better and catching up on sleep (in fact he's nearly TWO HOURS into napping right now, practically unheard of for him!)  We've also built up a cache of teething antidotes this week, including a cold teething ring, washcloths, our own (clean) fingers,  baby Tylenol, and a homeopathic med called Camilia.  I try to avoid using the Tylenol too often, though, partly because I don't want him to have too much and partly because I don't want him to get used to it.

We went to Dryden for the holiday and Rowan got to spend time with Grandma & Grandpa Gross, Aunt Gretchen, Uncle David, Aunt Liz, Great Uncle Bill, and Great Grandma!  We also went out to Aunt Judy and Uncle Gary's beautiful house in the woods - sadly Rowan is not old enough to try the amazing burrata that Aunt Liz brought. :) Soon enough.

Playing at Grandma's house

I didn't take as many pictures as I should have while we were visiting, but we had a great time.  Making pizza together has become a bit of a tradition when we visit Ben's family.  It won't be long until Rowan can help top the pizzas!

We also got to visit with Ben's friends Lars and Kate and their son Desmond.  I am very sad that they live in Seattle now because they are so awesome and I wish we could hang out all the time.  They are very cool and smart and down to earth.  The boys weren't too into one another this time around, but I'm sure they'll have fun playing when they are both a little older.

Snuggling with Kate

14 month old Desmond & 4 month old Rowan

And if that wasn't enough fun, on Saturday we got a visit from Matt, Evan, and Rachel!  Rowan showed off his moves for everyone and gave away lots of smiles.  Matt and I cooked dinner together, our favorite past time.  We made butternut squash bread pudding, spinach salad with roasted beets and red onion marmalade, and apple almond crisp.  I wish we could visit more often.

Hey!  That's my thing!

Beautiful eyes!

Wrestling bears & telling stories

Rowan is getting quite good at grabbing ... and just this week he has decided to put that skill to use in fighting bears.  Well, one bear.  Of the teddy variety.  Still, he's pretty tough. :)

He also still loves those hands and continues to tell us all sorts of great stories.  Sometimes I play back the video for him - he gets really interested and seems to try to talk back.  Today I tried that when he was upset and he calmed right down - he got very focused, staring and cooing at himself.

Rowan + funny hats

Rowan really doesn't seem to mind wearing hats, but he does like to swivel his head a lot and quickly.  I noted today that he kind of looks like a deranged owl when he really gets going. (I'm going to look here! Now here! Now here!)  So sometimes they fall off.  And sometimes we manage to snap a quick picture:

Strong legs & soft hands

Rowan is getting so strong!  He is learning how to stand - he can just about support his weight, but he is still learning balance.  He likes to practice standing up by pushing with his legs while Ben or I hold his hands or arms.  We usually do this while we are lying down and he is on top of us.  Rowan loves to stand up and he continues to be a pretty good sport about using his stander (most of the time.)

Although Rowan can basically sit up unassisted (though mom or dad need to be there in case he wobbles), he still does not roll over.  He just doesn't seem interested in it yet.  It might also be his size - that's a lot of baby to roll over!

Rowan is still a good night sleeper, but he's been a bit fussy this past week.  He has woken up a few times during the night and often has trouble getting to sleep (and staying asleep.)  Last night I put him to bed and he woke up a few minutes later, whimpering and crying out.  We laughed because it really sounded like he was wailing "Moooooom!"  I took him another warm bottle and fed it to him while he stayed in his (elevated) rocker bed.  He squirmed at first, but then got a hold of my left hand and promptly calmed down.  He dozed back off, still holding my hand.  His soft little hands are so sweet, I just wanted to sit there all night holding hands.

Of course, he woke back up again a few minutes after I pulled away.  Eventually, he went down for the night and this morning awoke with his (now) usual smiles and coos.

What have we here?

Something old & something new

Rowan has gotten very strong and very flexible over the last few days.  This morning he discovered he can grab his feet with his hands. So cute!  He's also been making some fun faces at us - his misaligned eye is getting better and he likes to open his eyes REALLY big. :)

Well, hello there!

In old news, Rowan still hates the carseat. Sigh. It will be nice when we can just take him out without it becoming a huge ordeal.

What we do now (into the fourth month)

So now we are well into the fourth month.  Rowan has a definite personality: curious, particular, serious.  He is sweet and cuddly and still needs to be held a lot.

It seemed like overnight Rowan learned how to grip and hold objects.  Now he sometimes likes to sit in his Bumbo with the tray and play with his cage ball or a colorful toy with lots of parts and textures.  Grandma & Grandpa Dankert got Rowan a Wonderbug this weekend - a stander with lots of toys.  Sometimes he only likes it for a few minutes, but sometimes he stays engaged for quite awhile.

 

Ben and I are used to eating in shifts.  We have simplified our lifestyle quite a bit, but we still like to eat good, home-made food.  Tonight we actually ate together, at the dining room table, while Rowan played in his Wonderbug. 

In other news, someone was very cute while hanging out in his room this afternoon ...

Still more about this baby (the third month)

By the time the third month got underway, our snuggly little Monster was starting to learn lots of new tricks.  His quiet cooing became loud proclamations.  Sometimes it sounds like he is actually saying "cooooo!"  Sometimes it sounds like "Ah! Ah! AAAH!" or "Oooo!  OOOO!"  No matter what he's got to say, we hear it.  And we talk to him a LOT.  It's easy since he's my or Ben's only company a fair amount of the time ... it will be interesting to see what he starts to pick up eventually.

Our little boy is quite serious.  He likes to stare at new things and gets quite the quizzical look on his face.  However, by month three he had started smiling regularly, too.  We finally heard his first laugh in early October while we were visiting Ben's family in Ithaca.  We're not sure what he was laughing at - he was just staring off into the sky over the roof of Wegman's.  My friend Rebecca thinks that babies can see angels and my mom said she heard of a little boy who claimed to see and be talking to his deceased grandmother.  Who knows - I'm sure babies are hyper-aware of their surroundings since they are learning so much so fast.

We get these half-smiles a lot. :)

Things that almost always make Rowan laugh/smile: Mom or Dad talking to him, having his chin tickled, Mom tickling his face with her hair, the mirror next to the front door, looking out the window in his room, the ceiling fan in the living room, the larger artworks around the house (sometimes Mom's drawing in the bedroom elicits more of a startled response.)

Rowan tends to be a little impatient and he wants to be held most of the time.  We love holding and snuggling him - but you know, we have to use the bathroom and eat occasionally.  I remind myself often how quickly this time will pass - and when he's a teenager and will barely let me hug him, I'll miss the days when I could scoop him up in my arms.

Still, he did start to branch out a little bit during the third month to tolerate hanging out in places other than mom or dad's arms.  He slowly built up a tolerance for the Bumbo seat - now he will occasionally enjoy it for almost a half hour at a time!  But usually it's only a few minutes.  His favorite place remains his changing table where he can stretch, look out his window, and look at his birds.

Look!  Look at these birds!!

Rowan also took his first trip to Ithaca at the beginning of the third month.  He met his only great-grandmother and saw the Ithaca Commons and Farmer's Market for the first time.  Unfortunately, he could only watch as we gobbled up delicious Viva Taqueria food - soon enough he will be able to enjoy his own quesadilla.

Man, he's such a little hulk!

Snuggling at the Ithaca Farmer's Market

We like to take Rowan out as much as possible, but he really despises being strapped into his carseat.  Once in awhile he will tolerate it, and a fair amount of the time he falls asleep, but often he just screams and screams in the car.  It makes us hesitant to take him out.  We hope he grows out of it soon - we feel bad sometimes taking him out because he gets to upset.

Since he likes to be held so much, a baby carrier would seem to be a logical choice.  However, our picky baby isn't always up for it - I have a standard, front-loading Chicco carrier and a more simply designed Hip Hammock by Playtex.  He would have nothing to do with the Chicco during the third month, but we had a little success with the Hip Hammock.  Ultimately, he knows we're cheating and he doesn't like it. :)  Perhaps this will change when he gets bigger.  We hope.  I have had a little success with the Chicco in the last couple weeks.

 

Nom nom ... hanging out outside and eating his fist, two of Rowan's favorite thing

 

Lil' pumpkins ... UNITE!

Rowan has always had gas and tummy troubles.  We started him on Enfamil AR early on - mixed with the Newborn formula at first as approved by his pediatrician.  By the third month he was on AR only.  He still spits up quite a bit most day and seems to have gas/stomachache fairly often.  But it's not too severe and his doctor says it's just part of being a baby.  We're hoping he grows out of it soon - he goes through a LOT of bibs and burp cloths.

Rowan's Likes: Looking at his fist, putting his fist in his mouth, stretching, being outside, being held, looking around, eating, apple juice, sitting up (with some help)

Rowan's Dislikes: Being strapped in the carseat, waiting, being bored, being hungry, tummy time (usually - he gets on board about once every three or four tries), waking up in the morning* 

(*During the first week of month four he began to wake up in a much more pleasant mood - now he'll talk to himself, look at his hands, and suck on his fists for awhile before he decides it's high time mom or dad got him up and got a bottle in his mouth.)

A friendly face

When I got home from work today Ben was holding Rowan up to his shoulder.  I swooped in with my usual big hello and got a big, happy smile from my little bug.  Just the best.

A sort of smile - he's quite serious.