Ryan - 6 Months

Dear Ryan,
You/we celebrated your half birthday! I can't believe you are already half a year old. The last 6 months have flown by, and you've grown so very quickly before our eyes. Your personality is starting to really come out and you have been increasingly talking and gesturing. You also have been signing quite a bit in the last half of the month!

You and Jake adore each other. Although, sometimes Jake gets in your face more than you'd like, but you quickly figured out, on your own, how to handle him -- by grabbing his glasses. If that doesn't work or if he doesn't have his glasses on, then you go for his hair or his ears and that makes him back up pretty quickly.
You have been BEGGING to try food -- you have been staring longingly at us when we put food in our mouths. I held off as long as I could, but finally when you were 5.5 months old I began to let you taste foods. Here you are with avocado -- not so sure at first.

Then comes the smile. You gummed raw carrot and honeydew melon. You love the taste of grapefruit juice from my pinky dipped in the fruit. You liked banana but it gave you a bad diaper rash so we are not doing that anymore right now.
You mastered the art of rolling over. And chewing on things. Which feels good because you've got some teeth working their way up.
People have been saying that you and Jake look more and more alike than when you were just a teeny baby.

Jake insisted on actually celebrating your half birthday with cake. So we got a small cupcake for us to eat. However, you decided you needed a nap during and after dinner, so we sang 'Happy birthday' without you there. If you look closely at the monitor, you can see your sleeping face!
Happy half birthday, sweet baby!