6 months

Shepherd is 6 months old now (has been for two whole days now) and I feel strongly convinced that he is on the cusp of transitioning into that grand phase of babydom that involves a tiny body moving rapidly and unassisted (hopefully not unobserved) to one part of the house where he quickly commits some senseless act of violence and destruction on a nearby innocent piece of furniture or organized kitchen cupboard or neatly folded pile of laundry only then to more quickly relocate to another part of the house to perpetrate similar destructive acts before his mother and I can discover to our horror the havoc he has caused in the absolute cutest way possible. He is not to this point yet, thankfully. But he is very close and while I (half) joke about being terrified by the prospect of baby mobility, I am very excited to see him grow and develop.

When we brought Shep home for the first time six months ago, I felt like he was so amazing and cute and fragile. I looked forward to when he and I could play and wrestle around. Finally, Shep is entering the realm of roughhousing! He really loves being thrown up in the air and he loves being dropped . . . from short heights . . . and on soft surfaces like the bed, of course. And hanging upside down makes him smile profusely. And, as evidence of his impending mobility, the other morning he rolled over from his back to his stomach and then back on to his back. Then he did it again, just to prove that he meant to do it the first time. Furniture and piles of folded laundry, beware!

An other somewhat unrelated but quite interesting development: Whenever I play guitar, I have Shep's complete attention. He just stares, totally absorbed. He also likes it when I beat box and singing has always made him smile and often soothed him when he is upset. Maybe we are seeing the inchoate signs of a master musician?

Amanda adds a few more things about Shep right now:

• He started babbling and makes d/t sounds a lot now. He also whispers, especially in the morning when he first wakes up, and it's terrifically adorable.
• He can sit up on his own for small periods of time. 
• He loves, loves, loves water bottles! Anytime we are drinking out of a water bottle with him nearby, he tries to grab it for himself.
  
• He has had water a few times and just barely started showing an interest in eating real food. We fed him a little bran muffin pureed with rice milk and fruit smoothie and it was quite amusing. 
• He still nurses to sleep most often and doesn't seem to know how to settle down and fall asleep without it. Also he wakes up about as often as he always did, 3-4 times a night, but hardly stays awake for long during the night.
• He loves splashing in the bath but only if he's being held at the same time.
• He generally hates being alone. He recently started moving his head and whole body to see us when we walk out of his range of vision.
• He is starting to enjoy being surprised and a little scared, whereas before it just scared him and made him cry. 
• He still hates his car seat most of the time. We rarely venture out with him unless someone's in the back to entertain him.
• He plays with his feet, mostly when he's diaper-free. And though he plays with them, he doesn't usually suck on his feet.
• He loves to ham it up when he gets a lot of attention from other people. As long as he's not screaming, he will smile so much for people who talk to him. You should come talk to him sometime.