Six-Month Well-Baby Check

John is the picture of health, per his pediatrician at his six-month well-baby check! Here are the latest stats:

Height: 26.5 inches/67.3 centimeters (52nd %)
Weight: 17 pounds 10 ounces (53rd %)

And we think maybe we've been giving John too many compliments because he was born with a pinhead (33.0 cm = 10th %) and now has a big head (44.5 cm = 70th %)!

The pediatrician concurred that she is in no hurry for us to offer John solids as he is growing like a champ, is very healthy, and isn't indicating that he wants solids. I'm watching for signs of readiness (see a short article here), some of which he has, others of which he doesn't. I'm still waiting for John to be able to sit up well without support, master the pincer grasp so he can feed himself, and to be unsatisfied with nursing alone. John grabs at everything, including things on the table, but when I hand him a spoon, he is satisfied to play with it instead of throwing it down and squawking as he reaches for actual food. At John's age, if a baby is eating solids, the food should be pureed to a nearly breast milk-consistency for safety. Foods like that don't tend to exist in nature, which tells me that babies are really not meant to be eating much beyond milk until they can handle the texture of fork-mashed table food (which does exist in nature).

So, we continue to watch and wait! In all likelihood, it will be very uneventful one day when John just seems ready and we let him grab a piece of mashed food from one of our dinner plates.

Also, the pediatrician noticed that John's top and bottom gums are swollen, so he might be working on some teeth (which would explain an episode of crying and difficulty sleeping earlier this week)!