Six months

Our son turned 6 months old last week. He is a playful infant now, whose favorite position is to be on his tummy, with his neck perched up & moving 360 degrees while his eyes soak up the world around him. I already miss the newborn stage where all we would do is cuddle, hug, cuddle, hug all through the day.

He LOVES to smile....and giggle, and laugh out loud too. And you can never get enough of a baby's laughter. A couple of days ago, we went to visit a family friend....fairly late at night. I never take the baby with me when I step out, but at night, he does not sleep without me...so we took him with us. We got down from the rickshaw at the entrance of their apartment complex and were walking towards their building....and we passed by many dogs in the complex who were barking loudly. Every bark made the baby so happy that he laughed uncontrollably :) :) :) :) - and every bark made my mom so scared that she clutched my hand and stuck close behind me. Such a stark contrast of feelings!

Our little man loves his milk, and he loves his mangoes. All his chubbiness comes from these two things. Apart from that, he has tried rice cereal, sweet potatoes, bananas, peas and squash so far. I can clearly tell from his facial expressions that he hates all of these foods I have listed. But milk and mangoes - he can't get enough of. He's just like his mumma and his sister in this aspect. I am spending the month of March in India for the first time in 13 years. The mango season is going on in full swing and I am thoroughly savoring my favorite fruit in the world every.single.day!!!!

The other day, my dad was holding him, and he said "mum"! We can call that his first word. The daughter's first word was also "mum", and for the longest time, she used to call me "mum mum". These babies are born genuises - I tell you - they know their mumma provides food and they recognize us only from the smell of their liquid gold....hence "mum or mum mum" is so apt! Apart from that, there is a lot of cooing and really loud screaming (especially when he sees his sister) that we can hear all day from him.

On milestones, the little guy is right on track. He first rolled over at 3 months, then stopped due to illness and travel and change in environment, but at 4.5 months, he was rolling over non-stop. He now rolls over from back-to-tummy and tummy-to-back. He can sit up by himself at 6 months and is grabbing/reaching for things.....his favorite being my iphone which he will either grab or hit so hard that it falls down hard on the floor every time I am not paying enough attention. I imagine him crawling soon - and that is the stage that I enjoy the most during their first year. Between sitting up and walking, the crawling stage passes like a fleeting wave. Recently, I was watching a few videos of the daughter crawling sooper fast in our home and was feeling so nostalgic. I miss her being so little!

Just like his sister, he LOVES music. A lot of times...I put a playlist on Pandora or Saavn and leave my iphone next to him on the bed with a few toys. He will listen to it and play for a long time by himself. The moment the music stops or is interrupted by Internet connectivity, he starts crying. He also loves the mozart tunes that play in his crib mobile. I can't wait to get both the kids started on music and piano lessons - I made my sister learn 6+ years of classical music (and yes, she sings very well) because my parents could not afford to send me when I was young....and I definitely would want my kids to learn it too. If it works out, hubby and I will also take singing (for hubby coz he already sings extremely well) and piano (for me) lessons along with the children....and we will be one loud rhythmic musical family!

His sister now adores him, but is still sooper jealous, and possessive about toys, etc. She will not share any toy with him, and snatches away any toy that he is playing with. Same with books - she does not mind us reading books to both of them, but if we are reading alone to him, she will come and snatch the book. She is going through a lot herself - she gave up her milk bottle, gave up wearing diapers and is now fully potty trained (even for naps, bedtime with just an occasional accident), and took some time to adjust to Indian life but has gelled in beautifully - a lot of changes have been going on for her since her brother entered our lives....so we are very patient with her. Sometimes I wish she was older so that she would be more loving and caring and sharing with him, but I'm happy with what we've got.

What's so different about the first six months of my son vs the first six months of my daughter is the anxiety - Mainly related to feeding. The daughter was very skinny, and I used to worry A LOT. I must have gone and weighed her more than 20 times. With my son, since he is chubby, I never worry about it. He turned six months old and we have not weighed him yet....we don't need to....I'm pretty confident he is fine. The daughter met all her milestones and did well on charts except her weight. Also being a first time mom, I had a lot of paranoia about other things too. Experience is definitely helping me be more laid back and at peace with his upbringing.

I don't get to hold my son and spend as much one-on-one time with him as I did with my daughter. However, I nurse him full time....so we bond during those sessions. We also co-sleep so I am next to him all night. And when I'm not holding him, he's held and loved and cuddled and hugged either by hubby and family, or our awesome friends and neighbors. We are incredibly blessed and lucky in that respect. There has not been a dirth of warm, loving and caring people around us during this time of our lives.

He has met all his grandparents, visited India, been to the beach, eaten Indian Alphonso/Kesar mangoes, and has worn lovely outfits gifted to him by so many people. His dad and I have read many many books to him. And I bought more than 100 books from India (in English, Gujarati and Hindi) during this trip....can't wait to read them ALL to the kids!

I'm sure I am missing out on listing a ton of interesting stuff here....but this post is already long.....so now onto some pictures :):

Since the day he was born, I wanted to dress him up as a girl....finally fulfilled my desire :).....

Dressed him up in a kurta-pajama on his six month birthday.....

Enjoying his mangoes....

And at 6 months old, sitting up by himself.....

He had a very sick period from 3 months to 6 months - he probably caught the flu in US which weakened his whole immune system and made him fall sick couple more times...hope he stays healthy now and gets a chance to boost his immunity....I am also trying to do my best by feeding him 100% breastmilk and no formula from my end. Please pray for him from your end too!