That's right; Ian is SIX MONTHS OLD!!! He has blessed us so much since
he joined our family and brings us delight every single day. Just as he
has been since the day he was born, Ian is happy, easy-going, and
oh-so-sweet. He rarely cries, and even then it's only if he's tired or hungry. His precious little face just melts my heart every time I look at him.
One of the sweetest things to watch over the last six months has been the growing relationship between Molly and Ian. There really is a special love between them that started developing from the moment they met. Molly has always shown lots of love toward Ian (along with a healthy dose of 'little brother abuse'). She showers him with kisses and hugs, wipes his mouth when he slobbers, retrieves toys when he drops them, and entertains him when he's bored.
Molly still loves to pet and kiss her brother, but recently Ian has started to return her love too. He loves to tackle her if she's in his proximity and douse her with big wet kisses.
Ian is also growing like a weed. At his 6 month appointment, his measurements were 17lb. 2oz., and 26 inches long, around the 50th percentile for both. Ironically, his 6-month measurements are almost identical to what Molly's 12-month measurements were. I feel like I'm constantly changing out drawers in his dresser to put away clothes he's outgrown and dig out bigger ones. He's now wearing size 12-month PJs, which means he's wearing pajamas right now that Molly was wearing just a few months ago!
It's funny to look at them side-by-side. At first glance, Molly looks like she's a lot bigger just because she is so much older and more mature, but on closer inspection, you can tell that Ian is quickly catching up to her. He's only 7 lbs. lighter right now. This picture makes me smile because their hands seriously look to be almost the same size. Molly has always had petite hands and feet and Ian has always had what I call "man hands".
One defining characteristic of Ian is that he NEVER stops moving. I can attest to the fact that his love of constant motion started months before he was born. I remember laying on the couch in the evening during my pregnancy and just marveling over the constant state of motion my belly was in. His long arms and legs just go and go and go and go and go some more. We've discovered that we can no longer use snap-leg pajamas because this is what we find when we wake up in the morning:
On this particular night, he had gotten up three times and each time I had buttoned him back up, only to find his bare legs hanging out once again when he got up to eat 3 hours later. His little energizer-bunny legs would just kick and kick until all the snaps were unsnapped.
Another thing Ian loves is to be naked. He's especially happy if he can be naked and mobile at the same time. Of course the best time for this is during diaper changes or right after a bath. Getting a diaper on this little boy is like wrestling an alligator. He can get himself from back to belly in under a second and will do so every single time you lay him down to put a diaper on. I've learned how to fasten many different diapers from the back so that I can finish diapering him on his belly. Most of the time, I just let him roll around naked for a few minutes as long as he's still on his towel or on a cleanable surface. I don't have to worry about him spraying the room because I know he will never choose to lay on his back.
He surprised me the other day when I left him bottomless on his play mat, playing on his belly. When I turned back to check on him, this is what I found:
He had pushed himself from his belly to a sitting position! Look how pleased he is with himself. I just can't believe he's already so independent in his mobility. There's the diaper sitting right in front of him, ready to go on. Thank goodness for "onesie flaps". Otherwise, this might be a very embarrassing photo in 13 years or so :-)
His mobility doesn't stop at rolling and sitting. This boy wants to CRAWL! It started with some strange body contortions while he was on his belly. He was trying to figure out what in the world to do with all his arms and legs:
Then he graduated to doing "the plank". He looks like a little military man ("Drop and give me 20!"):
But within a couple of days, he has at least figured out the correct body formation. He's very pleased with his progress and will spend the better part of his playtime pushing himself through the poses; belly, hands, toes, knees, and back again. He rocks back and forth a lot on his knees, but hasn't quite figured out how to gracefully propel his body forward. That doesn't stop him from getting where he wants to go though. Through a series of inch-worm-like contortions, along with an army-style crawl. He can pretty much get himself anywhere he wants. Something tells me he's going to be keeping us on our toes VERY soon.
So, with half a year gone and a lifetime ahead of us, we are thankful for every second we get to spend with our sweet, handsome boy. As Daddy likes to say, our little "Ion" is "positively squishy" (a little chemistry humor for the science geeks like us out there ;-)
