6 Months

Bradley reaches for people now. He is suddenly particularly attached to mama and doesn't like it very much at all if she passes by without taking him with her.....................Alex is still in this stage, so I imagine it will last for a while. :-0

I don't usually think Bradley looks like me, but then I saw this picture of me at 14 months. It's a female Bradley!


Bradley can sit up on his own for a few seconds at a time.

He walked around in his first snow storm this week. It was snowing HARD at the farm. It didn't stick, but it was fun to see.

His favorite words from 5-6 months were "gee" and "ing-a." He usually said gee when he was happy about something and ing-a when he was not so happy.

I trimmed his hair a couple of times. I'm still not quite sure what direction I'm supposed to brush it, but I'm slowly figuring out how it's growing in.

I started him on rice cereal on Monday, Nov. 5th, in the evening. So all those bibs I have are coming in handy now! Alex actually got Bradley's first bowl of cereal before I could get Bradley ready. Dawn and I went over to the table, and Alex had plopped himself in the seat and started digging in with the spoon. :-)


The first time feeding Bradley was hard. I think he was frustrated b/c when I feed him, the milk comes out continuously, so it took him a little while to realize you get a little on the spoon and then a little more and then a little more. The 2nd time was better, and the 3rd time he was a pro! He opened his mouth wide like a little guppy and waited for the spoon then swallowed it down. The rice cereal smells and tastes like Cream of Wheat, so I would think he would like it. I gave him baby yogurt a couple of times during his baptism weekend, and he LOVED that! Dad tells him, "Wait until you can have a cheeseburger!" I started him on oatmeal cereal on Nov. 21. This gives me a little more freedom. I went to Lowe's and the grocery store the other day while he was napping, and I knew if he woke up hungry, Xon could give him a little bit of cereal to tide him over until I got back. That is a good feeling.


He sure has sparkly, expressive eyes when he smiles. Dad says Alex has a little smirk like he's getting ready to do something sneaky and Bradley has a smile like he's just happy to see you. Mom calls it his "Awww, shucks" look. :-) He leans his head to the side now, too, when he's looking at something interesting.

His 3rd tooth is getting ready to break through. I can see it just below the skin. If you're looking at him, it's the right one in the middle part of his top gums. Usually we have a week of extreme crankiness before a tooth actually breaks through, and it's been a few days, so I think it should come through at any time. Some days he wants to chew through everything!

For Thanksgiving, we all went to work on the cabin. I helped put in the roof insulation on one side of the house, I stained the kitchen cabinets, and screwed in backer board on the bathroom floor. Mom cooked a bunch for us and babysat Bradley when he wasn't content sitting in his walker in the cabin watching us work. His little lamb suit from Grandma Beryl kept him nice and cuddly!

Bradley is getting really good at putting himself to sleep!!!! You can usually just put him down in a spot when he's tired, and he will fiddle with the covers or something until he goes to sleep. A few examples....Mom sat him up on the couch in the camper with some toys, and he fell asleep playing. Dawn and I were sitting in her car, and I had Bradley on my lap. He put his head down and went to sleep in about 3 seconds. I said, "Man, he sure looks like he's asleep." Sure enough, he was! He fell asleep in my lap when I was checking my e-mail. He fell asleep watching his crib mobile. Cute, cute. I do still rock or sing to him when I want some cuddle time, though. :-)

Xon's friend Bobby baptized Bradley on Nov. 18 in Lexington. Xon's mom, her friend Anna Margaret, Dawn, Erich, Alex, Mom and Dad were all there. We showed Xon's mom the farm and opened her Christmas presents for Bradley. Later we went to Sears to have a family picture taken. I think it turned out really well, and it didn't take any time at all. Dawn and I also took Bradley and Alex to Wal-Mart to have pictures made of just the two of them. Hope to show them to you soon!

Bradley was fascinated with Bobby's facial hair. Bobby looked at Bradley and said, "It's a beard!" :-)

Here are some cute tractor pictures of our little farmers.

Grandpa

Dad, 11/20/07

Alex

Bradley, 11/20/07

Dad, Bradley & Alex, 11/20/07
(I love the look on Bradley's face here. I kept saying "Hi, Bradley," to get him to look at me when I was taking the picture. He didn't say anything, of course, so finally Alex said, "Hi, Kaka!" HA!)