6-month check-up

August 29th

At his 6-month appointment Nikolas was at 16lbs 12oz and 26.5 in.

The nurse gave him the last in the series of shots that he's been taking since birth, and this time he didn't get the fever like at his 4-month appointment. He just cried for a minute and that was it. Dr. Grooms said that I should feed him yellow vegetables first (squash, avocado, sweet potato, carrot (yellow? oh well... it was on the list anyway), then yellow fruits (banana, pear, apple), then greens, but not leafy vegetables yet because of nitrate contents. Veggies should come before fruits so that he wouldn't develop preference for sweeter stuff right away and reject veggies later. Meats, milk, honey and nuts (esp. peanuts) will wait until he is at least a year old. Citrus will have to wait, too. She recommended vitamin drops to make sure Nikolas gets enough iron (Polyvisol, 1mg daily).

Dr. Grooms also mentioned that we shouldn't use the ExerSaucer for longer than 15min at a time. Oh, and it was such a relief not to have to hold him all the time when he wanted entertainment: holding him really started taking a toll on my lower back! To fill in for the ExerSaucer I now play with him on the floor more, imitating his crawl, reading to him, etc. We got this plastic fence that encloses Nikolas' area of the living room (which is the entire middle of the living room floor, of course!) that's covered with soft blankets and toys. Here are a couple of photos of Nikolas on his territory:

August 25th:

August 31st:

I also play him music, and his favorites are a couple of classical pieces: Strauss' "Also Sprach Zarathustra" (From "A Space Odyssey" movie) and Ravel's "Bolero". During the first one he quiets down and doesn't take his eyes off the stereo, and during the second one he dances and sings. As much as I try, I can't get him interested in Yugoslavian children's songs that I grew up with :(

Here is a cute one from this morning when he sat on daddy's shoulders for the first time while mommy was boiling squash that she willlater today: