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