Meet Clark: Month 6

You might have noticed I'm late on posting Clark's six month update. It has nothing to do with me being too busy and everything to do with me being quite lazy. I made several attempts to start this post, but quit as soon as I realized I would have to activate my brain even for a minute. But it is 6:00 a.m. and I am up with the Dark Shark watching Baby Einstein for the seven billionth time, and I suppose I can muster up the energy to fill you in on what the Tank was up to during his fifth month of life.

Clark is over six months old now. I'm not going to cry. I'm not going to cry. I'm not going to cry. Oh wait, yes I am. He is half of one year. He is a little boy. He's hardly a baby anymore, it seems. That's a little far stretched, I realize this, but watching him transform into this cute little man with a huge personality is simply mind boggling. He's awesome, people.

I think I've said this in each monthly update, but this last month was by far the most fun so far. I'm starting to get a little glimpse into his sense of humor, and yes he definitely has one at six months old. There are so many things in this big world we live in that make Clark smile. Specifically, Jake. Jake is Clark's favorite toy and the poor puppy is really a good sport about it. Even though he gets slobbered on, his ears yanked in every direction, and probably has permanent internal bruises given to him by the Dark Shark, he continues to jump on the couch and lick Clark's toes. Jake has come to be a great distraction tool I can count on for at least 10-20 minute stretches, and its a good thing he's pulling his weight around here because my patience was running thin. Our four year old maltipoo has lost any and all potty training skills he learned as a young pup and I've stepped on way too many turds barefoot to be okay with it. But he can stay around if he makes my baby smile.

Clark spent the majority of his fifth month in Biloxi, Mississippi. It was there that he hit some major baby milestones and we were able to introduce him to the wonderful world of floating in a pool. Floating in a pool/lake/ocean/big puddle is Clark's mother's most favorite past time. Give me a margarita as I float and I'll be your best friend for life. I had no reason to think Clark wouldn't enjoy it, but I had no idea that he would love it so much. I briefly mentioned it in Clark's 4-5 month update, but his love for all things water multiplied since then. This makes mom happy.

Also in his last update I predicted Clark would be able to sit up independently and start crawling by his six month birthday. I was right on the money about him sitting up. I can sit him on the floor with his toys and he will entertain himself all day long. Well, at least until he gets bored with the toys and I have to replace them with my kitchen Tupperware and spatulas. I don't know why we even buy him toys because his most prized possessions include a plastic clothes hanger, his hairbrush, his feet, a rubber spatula, and a plastic Walmart bag. He makes a great attempt at crawling but he's not quite there yet. He moves by planting his head on the ground, lifting his hiney straight up to the ceiling, and pushing forward with his feet. He hasn't figured out the benefit of using his arms but I'm not worried about it. He doesn't technically crawl yet, but he definitely locomotes. Aaron cleverly coined that term, please join me in applauding him.

The fifth month was also the month of noises. All sorts of crazy noises left Clark's mouth and he also figured out volume. And I repeat, VOLUME. He will start out by talking to himself at a low pitch and then all of a sudden, he wants the whole world to know what he's saying. He started trying out the L sound, and I honestly think he's trying to say 'love' because we constantly tell him we love him. He started putting his lips together and blowing as hard as he can. And of course, he's still a big fan of "aaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh." Aaron is convinced, but I am not, that he says 'mama'. The reason I am unsure is because he only makes that noise when he is crying/bellyaching about something and its hard to know if that is just the sound that left his lips or if he intentionally said mama. I'm sure time will tell.

Aaron forgot to put a bib on. How does that even happen?

Remember how for two solid months Clark woke up a minimum of 13 times every single night?Well I am happy to report that the Dark Shark is now a full time sleeper. I think after I perfected his nap schedule, and stuck with it hardcore, he agreed to start sleeping through the night again. He goes to bed at 7:30 and wakes up anytime between 6:15-7:00 the next morning without waking one time at night. This, my friends, makes me happy. His naps are usually an hour and a half in length and he takes them at 8:30 a.m., 1:00 p.m., and 5:00 p.m. This means our Walmart trips are awesome now and we haven't had a meltdown in a a long, long time because I can predict his moods to a tee. This makes Walmart employees and patrons thrilled, I am sure.

Just in case anybody cares, I also moved him to a four hour eating schedule, which means he eats four times a day instead of five. Three out of four of those meals are solids. And because he is a descendant of Aaron Rice, he eats A LOT. We started introducing solids right after he turned five months old. He's all over the carrots, green beans, sweet potatoes, apples, blah blah blah. He doesn't turn away from anything...except bananas. He hates those dadgum things. I try to reintroduce them every few days to see if he'll give them a chance, but nope. Aaron doesn't like bananas either. Interesting. I'm also still nursing him and that's going well too. I'm pretty sure not one person cares about this entire paragraph.

One of my favorite things he's doing at this little stage in life is holding onto his feet for dear life. At all times he is grabbing his toes and pulling them up to his mouth and its really cute. He swings them around as though he's conducting an orchestra, especially in his car seat. I have almost gotten in way too many accidents watching him through my rear view mirror, but I'm sure my insurance will understand.

Other things Clark is up to these days (that seem awesome to me but not so much to anybody else) are drinking water from a sippy cup, watching the heck out of some Baby Einstein, squealing when we throw him up in the air, wearing size three diapers, blowing raspberries when he eats, and somehow has an odd irrational fear of vacuum cleaners. Blowing raspberries used to be cute until I realized I was wearing more of his food than was entering his mouth; thus begins my first attempts at discipline. He's also starting getting an attitude when I take a toy, or any random object he is fixed on at the moment, from him. When he has these little fits, I just don't give him what he wants until he stops crying, and so far its working because he won't cry long. But when it comes to disciplining a child, especially an infant, I have NO idea what I'm doing. Not a clue. If anybody reading this has a book or two they would like to recommend on the subject, don't hesitate to holler.

He is getting sweeter and more attached to his mom and dad everyday. Aaron makes him really happy and I can calm him down like nobody else can. He looks more and more like his daddy every single day, and I am completely fine with that because Aaron is a hottie. Just in the past week or so he started resting his head on our shoulders when he's sleepy and it makes me melt. He's so dadgum cute and a day doesn't go by that I don't thank my God for blessing me with such a sweet child and husband. I'm really looking forward to posting Clark the Dark Shark Tank's seven month update, because I am sure it will be stock full of new developments. And by seven month update, I mean seven and a half month update, because I continue to be lazy all the days of my life. But I do change a lot of diapers so thats one point for me.