O, how he's growing: Oscar 5-6 Months Old

Oscar at 5 months

One day shortly after he turned 5 months old, it was super warm in our house so I stripped Oz down to his diaper and thoroughly enjoyed his soft doughy little body. It struck me that this was the last point in time I could look at Oscar's entire being and marvel at the fact that his whole being was derived from my own. That's kinda wild to think about! He was starting to embark on the wonderful world of food (more on that later).

5 3/4 months

6 months old

Half a year gone by.  Are you kidding me?

Oscar is officially at my favorite baby age: 6 months old.  I wish he would stay this age for a long, long time. Life has been exciting for him these past couple of months! 

He has been:

•  eating purees mixed with breast milk 
• rolling tummy to back, back to tummy, 
• traveling to Chicago and LA
• getting 2 teeth, 
• going in the big bathtub without the baby basin, shooting himself through the water on his back
• spinning on his tummy
• scooting
• teaching himself how to play peek a boo by putting things over his eyes and pulling them off
• sitting up independently
• using a highchair
• going sans car seat, and front-facing in the stroller (except for runs)
• getting a nasty cold
• interacting more and more with his big brother. 

All this excitement for a baby generally means terrible sleep for the parents.  It is a good thing he is so deliciously cute.

Our little Oscar, Oz, Ozzy, Bug. He still has the demeanor of a meerkat when out and about.  Here he is at the zoo, on high alert....

It just so happens that this is what he was checking out when the above photo was taken....

They were taking notes from each other.
While his approach to life is meerkat-esque, Oscar's looks remind me more of this character lately...

 

A big development for Oscar recently is that he got his first two teeth when he was 5 1/2 month old! He loves to show them off in his newest smile (see photo above, on the left).  He spent a couple days chomping mama playfully.  When he started that business I think it was his first experience getting his feelings hurt.  His chomping would be followed promptly by a yelp and a scolding, "No, Oscar!"  His little bottom lip would curl down and quiver as he looked at me with hurt, sad eyes, then he would compose himself, then it would curl down again, then he'd recover.  If I repeated the scolding the curled lip would proceed into full tears, which quickly subsided with a hug.  Yet he kept trying the game, convinced I would soon like it as much as he did!  I had major anxiety at every feeding knowing what was coming.  Eventually Oscar just decided he couldn't take the hurt feelings anymore, nor could he stop biting, so he refused to eat. I coaxed him back after a little bit and there has been no more biting for the past week. knock. on. wood.

Back pedaling a bit...in other news Oscar now proudly delights in slurping down purees! He started when he turned 5 months old, after pining for our food for a few weeks, and was thrilled to join the ranks of the eaters of the world.  He started with baby oatmeal mixed with breast milk and he was immediately a fan.

Oscar's first day of oatmeal

He stuck with that for a couple weeks.  He then moved on to breastmilk-avocado guacamole, the texture of which took him aback initially but which he quickly grew to enjoy. Next up was banana, followed by peas, followed by pears. He gags if he happens upon a stray lump mama overlooked in the prep process, but otherwise he is doing great.  He is fun and easy to feed.  He gets so excited for meals.  The other day I left him in the highchair with his little bowl of food on the table, and then went to go put something away in the fridge before starting to feed him.  Oh how he bellowed at me!
Oscar started out in the Bumbo seat but after a few weeks we put the infant attachment back onto the high chair and raised the seat, transferring Finn to a booster on a regular kitchen chair.  Oscar was so happy and felt important to be sitting up at the table like the rest of us.  His joy was adorable.

Oscar's first time in the highchair
In addition to teething challenges with nursing, Oscar has had a cold and is also at an age where he doesn't want to miss anything that is going on!  With all this I have to spend much of his awake time trying to get him to drink his milk.  Prior to this current situation, he loved cuddling in while nursing, running his hands through my hair and putting his fingers in my mouth, exploring everything around him with his feet.  Hopefully we'll get back there soon. Getting tired of the arch back, annoyed look on his face when I try to get him to nurse!

At 5 months old, Oscar accompanied me on my business trip to Chicago, which also happened to be my first plunge back into the professional world since having him.  My mom met me there to watch Oscar during the day while I was in meetings.  It was waiting for our departure at the Oakland airport that Oscar, doing tummy time, did a massive crunch, drew his legs up, and flipped tummy to back. He rolls both directions now, spins himself around and scoots to get to toys.

We started putting Oscar in the stroller front facing and he loves to be able to observe.  Here he is at 5 months old at the airport, being my travel buddy.

Oscar has caramel-colored, soft, fluffy hair.  It is lovely.  Sometimes it almost looks strawberry/ orangey blonde. And his eyes are still big, and boldly blue.  He has an adorable button nose. At 6 months old he weighed 16 lbs. 3 oz, so he really has re-channeled and is following the 25%ile.  He has got some delightful chunk on his legs...perfect for mama to gnaw on !

Oscar loves grabbing his feet, but he doesn't stick with that for too long before he flips over and starts spinning/ scooting himself around to find toys.

Nothing brings Oscar greater joy than his bouncer.  As we lower him into it, he's already springing his legs through the air in anticipation. He gets so high in that bouncer and already knows how to control the movement so well.  It makes him squeal with delight.  He especially loves performing for us in it.

Oscar has gotten so good at sitting up, even shifting his weight around to grab things. Only snafu...he gets excited and throws himself backwards.  So we're always careful to have one of our legs or a big pillow behind him.  We practice on the bed and carpet quite often too.

More on Oscar now:

• Oscar still cries in a high-pitched scream/ squeal.  It is the weirdest cry ever. It kind of makes me laugh rather than stirring up compassion. 
• He loves laying on mama's tummy and rolling around on the floor/ bed.
• He always has his eyes on Finn, and smiles and giggles as he watches him.  He gets so excited when Finn plays with him, even if Finn is smothering him with his toys.
• He can still fall asleep when out and about in the bjorn, facing in, with his monkey lovey over his eyes. We often do this for his 3rd nap, to get Finn out of the house
• Really ticklish...makes him giggle like crazy.
• When you're holding Oscar and you, or someone else makes him smile, he digs his feet into your tummy and burrows his face into your chest/ shoulder. Aw shucks.  It's so cute.
• Oscar takes 3 naps/day, about 2 hours apart. He goes to bed between 6:30 and 8 pm and usually wakes up around 11pm/12 am and again at 3:30/4:30 am (lately with teething/ being sick).  When he's feeling alright he will wake up just once, between 1:30-3:30 am to eat.
• We are going through a lot less burp rags now, evidence that Oscar's reflux is improving. He will vomit a bit if he has eaten a lot but there are many feedings now where he maybe only has a tiny spit up.  
• Speaking of reflux, he still sleeps on his elevated reflux bed, but as soon as he kicks this cold I think we'll try to wean him off of it.

More favorite photos from 4 months on:

"thbbbbt"  4.25 months

Enjoying his countertop perch in the bumbo, 4.25 months

4.75 months old

4.75 months

Finn asked to hold his brother. You can't tell here, but Oscar eats up any attention he gets from Finn!

5 months old

Exerts great effort to get to his toys, and get his mouth on them

Oscar has really warmed up to the swings, particularly swinging next to Finn
5.25 months

Love his fuzz blowing in the wind

5.5 months old. Graduated to a new sun hat

First train ride, at the zoo

I have 3 amazing boys. Lucky me. Lucky, lucky me.

Beaching it. 5.75 months old

Saddle up Cowboy O, 6 months old.

Aha! Got it! 6 months old.

Push ups!

Oh how he laughs from being tossed up in the air
6 months old.

This little boy is calm and happy and a little whippersnapper.  By 6 months he's really mastered falling asleep and taking good naps on his own.  And he's just an utter delight when he is well-rested. He's so so so cute! It is hard for me to take my eyes off of him. His papa is totally smitten as well. For some reason, Jeremy has a vision of Oscar up on the starting blocks and is always predicting, "You're going to be a character, Oz." As much as I want to bottle him up and keep him this age, I'm excited to get to watch him grow. I feel so lucky to have this sweet boy.