The Harald Report: 6-7 Months

Harald is already 8 ½ months old so this report is well overdue. 

• Let's start with the figures: 6 months: 8,390 gr and 67 cm; 7 months: 8,680 gr and 66.5 cm (apparently shrunk when he came to Belgium...); 7 months & 3 weeks: 9,010 gr and 66.5 cm (hopefully he will have grown taller at the next check-up?!)
• At the six-month check-up in Sweden just before we moved to Belgium the doctor checked to see if Harald could move a block from one hand to the other, but he wasn't able to do it (it wasn't something we had practised) or didn't want to demonstrate it, but obviously the week after he was clearly doing it.  She also checked if he would look for something falling on the floor, and this I had seen him do at home, but at the doctor he just wanted to smile and "talk" to the doctor :)
• He learned how to sit around 5½ months old, not as early as 4 months and 3 weeks like his sister, but she was very early.  Here in Belgium the child health centre (called ONE) was impressed that he could sit at 7 months but isn't it quite normal to sit at that age?!
• Harald made his first attempts to crawl at 6+ months.  First he was pushing himself a little bit backwards and trying to get up on his knees. From 7 months onwards he has been pulling himself forwards and is also standing on his knees and "wagging". Sometimes it looks like he is doing push-ups as he gets up on her toes and pushes his bum in the air. At almost 8 months he started trying to combine the two into proper crawling.
• His nickname is sälen, the seal! :)

• He has two teeth that came up in our first few weeks here in early September. He bites me sometimes but he did that even before he got teeth and it's less and less lately.  However he does bite or nibble our shoulders when we carry him, which can really hurt if he doesn't only get the clothes.
• We started giving him solids properly at 6½ months when we moved here and gradually he started eating more and more. He still hasn't get how to drink from a bottle or a sippy cup and only chews on it, but somehow manages to drink some anyway. During the day he doesn't need to drink much (except a little bit of water) but sometimes when he's tired it would be useful if he'd drink some formula instead of having to fed with a spoon.

• He has continued to sleep through the night from around 21 to 6 or 7 in the morning and if he wakes earlier he goes back to sleep after a quick feed.   I remember that Isolde used to sleep through the night 21-05 but she would cry out in her sleep and more often have "restless" sleep (and still does today). He usually naps twice a day or more but only shortish naps. I think there is usually one longer session but it depends on what Peter and the kids are up to, whether they are at home and he sleeps in the crib, or whether they are out and about.  But he rarely sleep for three hours, more like one-two hours.
• Harald is almost always happy and content and he's very easy-going most of the time.  His sister can be quite rough with him at times but he mostly accepts it. He only whines, doesn't cry, when he's not content or wants something.

• He has a wonderful laugh, especially when we play baka liten kaka with him, or when his sister is tickling him or running around being the grazy girl she is.
• He has practised with the toddler wobbler since we moved here when he was almost 6½ months old but he hasn't really walked with it until recently.

• He is liking the bath tub more and more and since we moved here Harald and Isolde have taken quite a few baths together, but not every time, as Isolde likes to splash a bit too much for Harald's liking.
• He likes the swing at the playground but unfortunately there is just one playground which has baby swings around here (what's up with that, Belgium?).
• When we first arrived here Harald had a period of a week or two when he just wanted to sleep on his tummy and with his face down, not on the side.  I had to go and turn him around, as I thought it was a bit scary, but he turned back all the time. 

• He likes his friend in the mirror.  We should have probably kept the toy mirror, especially since he hasn't met so many other babies here yet, poor thing.
• I feel a bit bad that Harald hasn't had the chance to go to baby swim and baby rytmic classes but on the other hand he has a sister who is always entertaining him so I don't think he's bored.  I also realised we haven't read to him that much, mostly just Isolde's book when we read to her and he joins in, but now I try to read more age appropriate stuff for him.
• We changed from the pram bassinet to the seat at around 7 months, as he only wanted to sit up anyway. He was sleeping better in the bassinet but he didn't want to lie down anymore when he was awake.

• Harald's favourite toys are his sister toys, including her Duplo blocks, and a Lamaze octopus Isolde had when she was a baby.  Also, phones and remotes are so much fun too.  Otherwise he probably doesn't have any real favourite toy or blanket or cuddly toy either for that matter. 
• He can be very cuddly, more than I remember Isolde being at this age, especially since I started working and he's missed me all day.  He puts his little face against my neck and sniffs me.  But mostly he just wants food when I get home (as I breastfeed him morning and evening).