You know how when you are driving somewhere for the first time it seems to take forever? You are completely fixated on the directions and making sure you don’t miss a turn, and the trip seems to take a really long time? Then, on your way home, the trip seems to go so much faster? You sort of know the way now and can look around a little bit, and you aren’t so worried about making a wrong turn.

That is how it has been for me having two kids. Maybe it is because I am not as worried about the milestones this time, or maybe it is that I simply don’t have time to worry about them, but these six months with Will have completely flown by. Every time something milestone-y happens I think to myself, “Wow, are we there already? He’s already rolling over? Wasn’t he just born for gosh sake?”

Will is, in fact, rolling over these days. Lots and lots. Way more than Emma ever did. She did it once and was all “Ok, did that. What now?” and hardly ever did it again. In contrast, Will seems to be thinking “Are you KIDDING me? I can DO that? Rock on.”

He is huge. HUGE. I know I say that in every update about him, and we don’t have six month measurements yet, so my evidence is merely anecdotal, but believe me. Huge. We just bought a new car seat for Emma, so that Will can start using hers, because we are pretty darn sure that when we have him weighed in two weeks he going to come very very close to the 22 pound weight limit for his current seat. I will keep you posted.

Which actually brings up a question for me - what exactly do you do with a non-walking, not- quite-sitting-up-on- his-own infant who no longer fits in his infant carrier? Where do you stash him when you need a few extra minutes to do something before you leave the house? Emma didn’t outgrow her infant carrier until after she was walking, making transporting her oh-so-convenient. Right now I nurse him, put him in his car seat, he falls asleep, I get ready to go, I carry him to the car and he keeps sleeping. Once I don’t have the handy dandy infant carrier, where exactly do I put him in the morning before we leave, when I still have a million things to do so we CAN leave? If anyone has an answer please let me know. Otherwise I will just have to let you know what we come up with. Maybe a strategically placed bungee cord…?

But I digress. Will! He is very active and continues to be very strong. I can definitely see that in the months ahead, as he becomes more mobile, I am going to have to keep a very close eye on him. He is just beginning to sit up on his own. I stay close by to spot him but he can stay sitting for a good minute or so before he teeters to one side or another. He hasn’t started crawling or even scooting, but he is happier during tummy time these days than he ever has been. Of course, the rolling makes it much more interesting.

He loves to smile and has become a huge flirt when we are out, batting his spidery lashes and flashing a full-face smile at anyone who stops and talks to him. We recently started him on solid foods and he seems to have gotten the hang of eating pretty quickly. He loves apple sauce, as well as rice cereal and peas, as long as there is plenty of apple sauce mixed in.

His sleeping patterns have been a little wacky. He went from seriously considering sleeping through the night a month ago to being up every two hours. Prior to a few weeks ago he was sleeping 6-8 hours between feedings and twice went for 12 hours before waking up. His pattern these days seems to be about four hours between wakings, although in the last week or two there have been a few nights (far too many) where he is up just about every two hours. We have been successful at transitioning him into his crib though. Baby steps I guess.

It is interesting to note that we had similar issues with Emma when she was the same age. We have never been the “cry it out” types, even though we made a valiant effort with Emma, plus we now have a slumbering pre-schooler to think of, something which was not a factor when we were trying to get Emma to sleep. I would rather be up all night long with Will than deal with a cranky sleep deprived Emma in the morning.

I am going to talk to the doctor about this sleep thing when we see her in two weeks. My second-time-around mommy instinct is telling me though that this is nothing to get too worried about, that he will be sleeping through the night solidly by the time he is eight months old, just like Emma was, and that someday, probably not too far in the future, I will be wishing for the nights when I got a few extra minutes to snuggle with him in the quiet dark.

Will’s basic attitude these days seems to be one of sheer wonder. He approaches the world with a jovial curiosity and is delighted by most of what he encounters. Almost as much as those of us around him are delighted by our encounters with him.