Half a Year Old

At his 6 month appointment, Valentin is 19lbs 7oz and 27.5 inches tall. This puts him in the 75th percentile. ONLY?! He is such a chubby and big baby that it is hard to believe he is not following in his brother's footsteps of being always above the 95th percentile... I even went back to my notes to confirm that... wow, Martin had almost these measures at his 4 month appointment!!! Now THAT is CHUBBY!!!

Compared to Martin at that age, though, Vale does not do that much - he still does not say anything beyond 'Boo', or 'GRRRR' (the R is very clear, but produced somewhere in his throat and having nothing to do with his tongue)... Martin was saying 'Da', 'da-da-da' at this age and varied his intonation immitating our speech... Well, I should not be that harsh on Vale because when I think of it, he too tries to immitate me when I read to him, only doing it with his 'brrr'... Reminds me of how Isra taught Martin to answer to "Como hace mama?' (What does mommy say?) with 'Burra-burra-burra'...

Vale still does not sit well without support. Martin was able to put his hands in front and to the side when he was falling - still not to the back. And Vale is not sliding backwards across the wooden floor yet.

I kind of feel guilty of this delay - although this is not delay according to his doctor who thinks he is doing great for his age. Vale is such a happy and content baby that occasionally I forget where I left him while I play with Martin. He would be just happily kicking in his bouncer enjoying the motion he creates and pulling on the toys without complaining for lack of attention. Good thing he was like this (he no longer is as he now loudly complains if he is left alone for more than a minute), because Martin has been extremely jealous of him from the very beginning. And Valentin at the same time looked like the only thing he demanded was to be changed and fed regularly. He would not depend on us carying him to fall asleap or to be entertained. And I surely capitalized on this fact!

Of course, every chance I get, I smother him with kisses and bite on his sexy legs, arms, belly and tickle him till he cannot stand it any more. A friend on FB called him 'kozunache' and I said I cannot agree more - his fingers melt in your mouth and another friend warned us this is going a bit canibalistic way. Well, look at him - would you wait till Easter to taste him?!

But the quiet days are over now! Lately he wants to sit constantly, he wants to always have something in his hands (something to drop every 2 seconds and to want someone to put back in his reach), he follows Martin at 360 degrees (especially when I sit down to feed him) and he rolls over on his tummy seconds after you put him on his back - even if this causes him to spit up half of his lunch...