Just in time for his six-month “birthday”, Adrian learned to sit unsupported. Until now he sat very well in his highchair, but as soon as I put him on the floor, he’d fold forward or to the side and flop over within less than a minute. Then suddenly he got the knack of it and now he sits. As with most new skills, he likes it a lot, and much prefers sitting to lying down.

He also likes being pulled up to sitting from lying on his back: I give him my fingers to hold and immediately he lifts his head and starts working himself upwards, and as I pull he follows. In fact this is the best way to get him to sit: if I try to just put him down somewhere he will keep his legs straight so he lands on his feet, and then he refuses to bend his legs (or doesn’t know how).

At the six-month checkup (which he had about a week early) they enquired if he turned over yet, but that’s something he hasn’t figured out yet.

He’s found his feet and likes to pull on them when he’s lying down for a nappy change. He doesn’t do it often when he’s got a nappy on (too much pressure against his tummy I think) so now I often let him lie without a nappy for a while to let him play with his feet.

We have started serving him solid food. Mostly he gets finger food to keep him occupied while we eat. He usually enjoys it quite a lot, which gives us an extra five minutes to eat our food in peace. He hasn’t been too fond of spoon feeding, although he did make an exception when kiwi was offered. And I’m not too fond of spoon feeding him, either, because then I will have less time to eat rather than more.

Sucking on a broccoli stick

Adrian’s favourite foods are bread and broccoli. Cauliflower, cucumber and apple are also OK. Banana, carrot, melon, sweet potato and pear: not so much. The menu is quite limited because his grip is so strong and uncontrolled that he mashes most foods in his hands before he even manages to get them to his mouth. Bread sticks, crispbread, and crust from bread rolls are the best foods for him, because they are hard and won’t break in his hands, but by sucking on them he can nevertheless get flavour from them, as well as small pieces to swallow.

It’s been barely two weeks since he got his first pice of bread but already he has become much more skilled at handling food. He no longer misses the mouth, and is much better at grabbing the food in front of him. He can also get his dummy into his mouth more often than not.

He is often (but luckily not always) dissatisfied and hard to please. When left to his own devices, he bores quickly and starts complaining. When held or carried around, he wriggles and kicks. I get the impression that he wants – to move around, to do things – but cannot.

He likes people and will smile back at pretty much anyone who smiles at him or talks to him, as long as they’re not way too close or too loud. He still finds Ingrid’s antics very amusing; they entertain each other very nicely. When Ingrid has a tantrum he becomes very upset and won’t stop crying until Ingrid quiets down (or we take one of them to another room).

He still drools and spits up a lot but doesn’t burp quite as much as he used to. Which is nice, because I can now let him fall asleep on his back. Previously I always had to turn him on his front after nursing him at night, so he could let out all the burps – if I left him on his back he couldn’t fall asleep because of them.