Yes, we plan to torture him with these when he's older

My dear friend Kristin of Lanari Photography took these darling pictures of Will a few weeks ago. It was our first professional photo shoot, and oh so much fun!

We call this the "William George Costanza"

Isn't he the sweetest?

Six Months Old

Dear Will,

Remember how I said last month was a big month? Well, as it turns out, you're at that age where every month is a big month! You seem to discover something new each and every day.

Among your favorite recent discoveries? Your feet. You love diaper changes, since you get to lay back, grab your feet, and try to pull them into your mouth. When I prop you up to sit, you immediately lean forward and grab your toes. We're having trouble getting you to sit independently, since you're always lunging for your feet and toppling over.

Though you rolled over for the first time around Christmas, you really started rolling over this month, flipping from your tummy to your back easily and often. I can barely put you on your stomach without you immediately rolling over. You're always so proud of your accomplishment, wildly kicking your feet in excitement. Sometimes you'll roll to your side from your back, but you don't seem to have the momentum or coordination to flip fully yet.

You love music and dancing. We spend most of our days with you perched on my hip, bouncing around and singing songs. Your favorites are "10 Little Fingers", "Where is Thumkin?", "B-I-N-G-O" (though we sing "S-TE-L-L-A") and "The Wheels On The Bus". When you're fussy, I usually make up songs to narrate whatever we're doing. It doesn't matter what I'm singing about. You just love to be sung to.

We read every single day. Your favorite books are "More, More, More Says The Baby", "Brown Bear, Brown Bear", "The Hungry Caterpillar", "The Bear Snores On" and "Goodnight, Moon". We also have two picture books with illustrations of pets and farm animals that you love to look at. I hope you always love reading.

We started solids this month, which has been endlessly entertaining. I love feeding you with a spoon and watching you try new things. You eat all organic (of course) and I'm making most of your baby food myself. Your favorites include oatmeal, avocado, squash and bananas. You hate rice cereal and applesauce.

You need all that extra food because man oh man, are you growing. You now weigh over 16 pounds (30th percentile) and measure 25 inches long (70th percentile). Long and lean, just like your mama.

You are still enamored with Stella (and all other dogs). You stare at her where ever she is, what ever she's doing. You squeal with delight when she licks your hands. And though it startles you a bit, you grin from ear to ear when she licks your face. You reach out and pat her now, though we're working on not grabbing and pulling (be gentle!). She's so good with you though, patiently waiting for you to release her ear or her lip when you get a good grip.

Over the past few months, I've had several people describe you as "pensive". It's an odd word to describe a baby, but it fits you. You are Mama's serious boy, thoughtful and tentative. Sweet and smiley. Perfect in every way. You literally make my world go round.

I love you, my darling boy.

Mama

Progress

I was so busy ranting about the helmet mix-up on Wednesday, that I forgot to post Will's two week progress report. His left to right asymmetry improved from 7 mm to 5 mm, and his width to depth ratio (flatness) improved from 100% to 98%.

Dr. Bob thinks it will still take about 3 months of treatment time, but we're thrilled to be seeing progress already.

Way to go, Will!

Me Time

One of the best things I've done for myself lately is to ask my mother-in-law to take Will on Thursday afternoons. It's such a lovely break.

Sometimes I do homework or clean. Other days I go shopping or grab lunch. Today I'm getting my hair cut, and enjoying a few quiet hours of down time.

But wouldn't you know it... I miss him terribly already. I wonder what he's doing, if he's fussy, and whether he misses me. I know it's good for him (and me) to spend some time apart, but I'm already counting down the minutes until 4:00.

Parenthood is so fickle.

Comedy of errors

Today was supposed to be the day. The day we got rid of the ugly helmet and got our nice, new white helmet. The helmet I ordered. The helmet I paid for. The helmet that isn't awfully ugly.

We showed up at Dr. Bob's office, and there it was. Shiny and white. Ready for the darling stickers I purchased. One problem: it didn't fit.

It was waaaaay too big. Dr. Bob said there must have been a problem when they cast the mold at the manufacturing facility in Georgia. So we wait. Another two weeks. Again.

Which means more cars, helicopters and "no dogs" signs. Boo.

Still adorable

I'm thrilled to report that Will is adjusting really well. He napped in his helmet today, and even rolled over with it on. He was playful and smiley. This is so much easier to accept when he continues to act like himself.

Now if only we can get rid of the ugly pattern. Thankfully, the white helmet arrives a week from Monday.

Today is better

The helmet doesn't feel quite as tragic today. I fluctuate between being devastated that he has to wear it and thinking that he looks terribly adorable with it on.

He's got a bit of a fever today, probably from his shots yesterday. But despite that, he's wearing his helmet like a champ. He's such a good boy.

Now if only we could get rid of the tragically ugly print. Blech. I can't wait for the white helmet to arrive.

I'll try and post some pictures tomorrow.

Well, it's pretty much as awful as we thought it would be

Maybe worse. Helmets suck.

Will's doing OK with it. He was a little fussy today, but I think that was more from his six month shots than from wearing his helmet. We'll see how it goes tomorrow.

If the helmet itself isn't enough of a bummer, the company got our order wrong and put an ugly f'ing pattern on it. Veto. They're sending us a new one (white, like we ordered), but it will take two weeks to get here. Until then, super ugly helmet!

At least we're one day down.

At least his head won't look like a bowling ball

Will was scanned for his helmet yesterday. I'm happy to report that he was a champ throughout the entire appointment.

When we got to the orthotist's office, Dr. Bob took some measurements of Will's head. Though his head grew quite a bit in the last month, his width to depth ratio stayed exactly the same, and his left to right comparison actually got a little worse. Dr. Bob said that's strong evidence that his head won't correct on his own. So helmet it is.

Each orthotic helmet is custom made and requires a custom mold. They actually used to cast each baby's head to make the mold. Can you imagine? Dr. Bob said he never did a cast without the baby screaming.

Luckily, Dr. Bob's office has this new scan technology that takes a 3D picture instead. No casting required. Will had to wear a white mesh bonnet with a sensor attached to the top. Then Dr. Bob took his fancy camera and scanned all around Will's head. Will had to keep his head straight throughout the entire scan, but he did great. He was too enamored with the duck puppet Dr. Bob's assistant had to look elsewhere.

We selected a solid blue helmet, as I plan to decorate with vinyl stickers from Bling Your Band. But today I got a call from Dr. Bob's office saying that their new helmet manufacturer doesn't offer any solid colors except pink (helpful). These were my choices of helmet designs:

Um, ew. Could those be any uglier? As Ben pointed out, many of them look like bowling balls.

I was so bummed. I mean, it's bad enough that my kid has to wear a helmet, but if I have to stare at an ugly pattern for 4 months, we're going to have real issues. Thankfully Dr. Bob's office contacted the manufacturer, who can also do plain white. So plain white it is, with some darling vinyl stickers.

Will gets his helmet next Wednesday, so stay tuned.