6 Months Old

It is incredible that six months have passed since Owen has arrived in our lives. He has a smile that lights up my heart. I just look at him and feel so lucky. I was joking with a friend that I've become one of those mothers who thinks their child is the most wonderful child. I absolutely love being Owen's mother.

Owen's 6 month milestones:

• Sits up on his own. Most of the time this is in the "tripod" position by leaning forward on one or both arms for support. We are working on it.
• Owen has started eating cereal. He's still learning the whole eating solids because not a lot ends up in his mouth. But one thing is for sure; solid food = smelly diapers!!!
• Brian is really good at playing and inventing games with Owen. He loves to be rolled over and over and anything involving a silly voice.
• Has lots of energy; rolls and wiggles around. The naps seem to get getting shorter, and the alert playful times are getting longer. He's still only rolling over from stomach to belly, but he's starting to wiggle and arch his back more. He's going to be on the move before I know it.
• Loves to be on his feet. The exersaucer and doorway jumper are big favorites. He will jump himself silly in these things. Grandma and Grandpa Kuder discovered that if you do a jumping jack in front of him while in the exersaucer, he'll try to imitate you. It is incredibly funny.
• Owen definitely knows his mom and dad from strangers. This was pretty evident when he got passed around to relatives on our trip to Ohio. Many times he would look around the room to find me or Brian.
• Enjoys being sociable -- laughs. He's very alert and has good eye contact when you talk to him. I'm still working on getting him to recognize his own name.
• He reaches for and grasps toys really well now. Loves to put anything he can get his hands on in his mouth.
• Owen is probably the only one on this planet who likes to hear me sing. He will usually stop what he's doing to listen and watch me sing to him. I read somewhere that repetition helps with learning, so the Itsy Bitsy Spider and the ABC's are the two most frequent songs I sing to him. Owen seems to like music quite a bit, because he's still engrossed in Brian when he breaks out the Guitar Hero game.