A few days after I posted my last update (not the pictures) Noah started sitting up. I can't really pinpoint exactly what day it was because he kind of started doing it gradually and I didn't even realize he was doing it until he had already been doing it for a few days. He also now rolls from back to tummy and tummy to back both directions and gets up really well on his hands and knees and rocks. This kid is determined to be mobile - I will not be surprised if he's crawling in a week or two!
He also seems to be getting much more interactive. He's laughing at more abstract things, not just when you tickle him or make a specific noise. He'll be sitting next to me and lean over and grab my arm and play with it and laugh. His new favorite thing is bath time! He loves splashing and kicking and if he's ever in a bad mood I just put him in the tub and he's happy.
According to our pediatrician we should have started cereal at 4 months. It kinda of bothers me because that's very much old outdated information. So not only are we delaying cereal, we're skipping it all together as well as skipping purees all together. We're going to do a modified baby-led weaning. Basically, he's gonna eat what we eat as much or as little as he wants to explore food - textures, tastes, etc. Baby-led weaning's little saying is "food before one is just for fun". Nutritionally, babies don't need anything other than breast milk (when fed on demand 24/7) until they're one. Since we're doing that, I don't need to worry about him getting a certain amount of any one particular thing since nutritionally, he's getting all he needs from me. You start letting them have/play with food when they act interested (after 6 months). I say we're doing it modified because part of baby-led weaning is to never feed your baby on your own (with the idea of letting them control what goes in their mouth). Well, sometimes when he wants to suck on my apple or a piece of melon he can't really hold it so I'll hold it in his mouth, thought I never force him to eat or swallow anything. Anyway, today he did really well with a 1/2 stick of low fat mozzarella string cheese and a couple pieces of honeydew. Surprisingly he seemed to like the cheese more though that might have been because it was easier to hold (that honeydew is slippery!). Technically you're supposed to wait until they're 6 months so I've only been giving him some food here and there when he's really grabby during my meal times. We'll see how it goes!
