Happy 4th of July from Terra Alta, WV!

Ben had a blast at the carnival…

 

Ben’s First Bug

Yesterday morning, I noticed Ben seemed to have something in his mouth.  He was making a face and chewing motions.  I performed a mouth sweep.  I felt something very small on the back of his tongue but I couldn’t get it.  Ultimately, he swallowed whatever it was…  Yikes!

Later, Tim called out, “Ben needs a mouth sweep!  He has something black on his tongue.”  This time, I was able to pull it out.  Tim and I looked at it for a moment before we realized what it was.  It was a dead bug.

I guess it’s time to vacuum.

 

Ben’s 6-Month Checkup & First Veggie (or not)

Yesterday was Ben’s 6-month checkup.  It went really well and everything is fine!  He weighs 17 pounds, 4 ounces (50th percentile), is 26 3/4 inches long (50th percentile), and his head circumference is 17 inches (50th percentile).  I even made sure the nurse moved his dots on the growth charts over to reflect the fact that he is more like 6 1/2 months.  Tim was able to come to this appointment and held Ben during his shots.  Ben took his shots like a champ- he cried for a minute and then was fine.  Later, however, Tim was home alone with him and he got really really fussy.  He gave Tim quite a hard time.  He was probably sore from his shots.  Tim pointed out- there have been times when our cats, after they get a shot, have laid around for 24 hours, not being themselves for a while.  He seems to be fine now.

His tear duct on his left eye is still clogged (and has been since birth).  If it remains clogged at one year he will have to have a “probe.”  I don’t know much about this- the Dr. said it is a minor procedure but it does involve anesthesia.

We HAD been planning on giving Ben his first taste of veggies last night.  We had the baby green beans all ready.  However, I had to go back to town and the car I was driving broke down on the way home!  It’s not worth re-living via blog, but needless to say our evening routine was quite disrupted so we did not add anything to it (like green beans).

SO, tonight was the big night.  The first time Ben was going to eat anything besides mommy’s milk, formula, or rice cereal.  I gave him several small bites of green beans.  He made “the face.”  Then he seemed to like it and want more.  I gave him several more small bites.  All was well.  Then he turned his head to the side, indicating he was full.  Great!  A wonderful first experience with vegetables.  La-la-la.  I quietly congratulated myself on having such an agreeable baby.  I put the lid on the little baby food bowl and as I did that, it happened: he threw up for the first time.  I felt terrible.  He was fine.  Messy, but fine.  Green mush everywhere.  I frantically checked him all over for a rash or hives or other signs of a food allergy but he was fine.  His little belly wasn’t ready for all that new food.  I felt bad for giving him more than he could handle but Tim just said he was taking after him (“We don’t like green beans, do we, Ben?  No, we like meat!”).

 

Ben turned 6 months this week and started solid food!

This was a big week for Baby Ben.  He turned 6 months old on Thursday!  On Tuesday, we gave him his first taste of baby rice cereal!  He made the requisite faces and of course smeared it on his face and hands.  He didn’t actually swallow any for the first couple nights but I think the last 2 nights he has gotten some down!  He still makes “the face” when he first tastes it, so I’m hoping to get a good picture of that this weekend.  By the 2nd night, he was opening his mouth and leaning into the spoon, so he’s definitely getting the hang of it!  By the 3rd night, he was grabbing the spoon and hanging on tight.

In other news, he’s definitely crawling (coordinating arms and legs) and starting to “bear walk” (hands and feet only touching the floor).