Dante Month 6 (7/12/2003)
June was an exciting month for Dante, as his first three teeth came out. The first (bottom right central incisor) on June 17th, the second (top right side incisor) on June 24th, and the third (bottom left central incisor) on June 29th…. The 4th (top left side incisor) just showed up yesterday so we now have a full fledged vampire crawling around backwards all over the house…

Our 6th month doctor’s appointment was somewhat confusing, because at first Dante weighed in at 8 lbs. Bewildered, the new nurse, who was having a bad day and was quite grumpy, weighed him again at 14 pounds. Since he weighed 16 at his 4 month appointment, this was still obviously incorrect. The next weighing had him at 17 pounds, but this still seemed wrong to me (but who am I to know, I am only his mother). We convinced her to try a different scale, as this one was having trouble (or perhaps Dante was practicing his levitation skill) and this time he weighed in at 17 pounds and 12 ounces, which put him at the 60th percentile for weight. Since he has consistently been in the 80th/85th percentile for height and weight, to be honest, I still don’t buy the validity of the last weighing. He seems a bit closer to 19 pounds to me… He refused to stretch out for her as well, so the height also came in rather short (27 inches – also 60th percentile) and I have measured him at home with a tape measure at about half an inch longer… so lets just say I am dubious.

Anyhow, his third set of shots went without a hitch and we are glad to be done with that for the next 6 months.

Chris finally decided to take his paternity leave, so has been home since June 24th, much to Dante’s happiness and my relief. Aside from amazing quantities of quality Daddy Time, we have been baby-proofing and attacking various baby-induced house projects with gusto. Since Daddy has been home, we have also begun the transition from cradle-by-our-bed to crib-in-Dante’s-room. Not completely painless, but doing rather well. He either sleeps most of the night in there now, or takes at least one nap there during the day. The baby monitor has come in quite handy for this process. Not fond of the “cry-it-out” technique we were wimps and couldn’t bear to leave him alone unless he was happily asleep for quite a while. Now, he does cry a little at first when we put him down, if he is not mostly asleep to begin with, but usually not more than a couple minutes.

Dante’s palate has grown again this month. I’ve started him on Organic Baby Food, which gives him a lot more variety than my home cooked mushes. I have so many baby food coupons at the moment, it actually doesn’t seem any more expensive than making it myself and I usually don’t even buy all organic fruits and veggies, so I figure he is getting even better nutrients this way. He has also recently started to eat Cheerios, which he adores, and he is working on figuring out how to use his thumb and forefinger to pick them up and put them in his mouth himself!

Enjoy the pics and have a good month!

- Aurika