Gus continues to be a very happy baby! And just within the last couple of weeks, he has really turned a corner on nighttime sleep! It's amazing how they just kind of fall into a routine. He started wanting to go to bed earlier, around 8:00 or so and he has only been waking up once per night! Vast improvement! He continues to want an earlier and earlier bed time, so he usually goes down around 7:00 or 7:30 and typically gets up once around 3:00 or so to eat and then is up for the day between 6:00 and 7:00. His naps are still a bit all over the board, but for the past few days he has been taking a two hour nap around 11:00 or so, so hopefully that will stick once he's back to school.
He has been rolling like crazy! Mostly from his back to tummy, but occasionally from his tummy to his back. He now prefers to sleep on his tummy, which makes me nervous. But every time I try to flip him, he either wakes up angry or just flips right back to his tummy, so I guess I'm going to have to live with it. His neck and arms are getting really strong, he's now pushing up onto his arms when he's on his tummy. He tries to gets his knees up too, but he can't quite do them both at the same time. You can tell he really wants to crawl! I've been trying to help him get up onto his hands and knees and he thinks it is so funny when I do that for some reason. He giggles - it's so cute! He's just now starting to giggle more, I love it! He likes it when I blow raspberries on his tummy and kiss his neck.
Another new development this month - solid foods! The doctor told us to start with anything we want, but encouraged us to do things with high calories since he is so little (5% in weight!). We started with carrots because I had some on hand, so I made a yummy puree. Audrey and I thought they tasted delicious but Gus was not a fan! He took a few bites and then started making the sour lemons face and gagging. Next we tried applesauce. Similar reaction, but even more hatred if that's possible. Then we tried rice cereal. He was most receptive to this probably because it tasted like breast milk. Yesterday we tried pears and that was by far his least favorite! He took a couple bites, gagged and started crying. I think we'll try sweet potatoes and avocados next. Audrey loved sweet potatoes when she was a baby so hopefully we'll have better luck with that.
When we had his six month check-up the doctor said he looks great. He is very small for his age, but still on the growth curve, so she wasn't too worried. He's about 5% in weight ad 12% in length but 40% for head circumference! We're going back in to check his weight at the end of August, so hopefully solids will help him get big and strong!
He continues to love his big sissy and the feeling is mutual. She is such a little momma to him, it's really cute. She wants to help feed him, burp him, cuddle with him, hold him. And he loves to just watch her with this huge grin on his face. This morning when we were in the car on the way to school, he was just staring at her. So sweet! Before bed, we usually include Gus in story time. We all get on the bed to read and they love it. Usually they are so busy cuddling and playing that they're not paying much attention to the story!
