It's all downhill from here.

My last baby is halfway to his first birthday.  He's six months old today.  Whether he stays forever or returns to his mom is unknown, as we are still early in the case.  Either way, he is our last baby.  Gone are the newborn days.  As he outgrows clothes, I get rid of them.  There is no need to box them up for "next time." The clothes are cute and teeny, but I am enjoying having our kids get older and am actually ready to let others have their share of babies.

The Baby is getting more and more happy to play on his own without needing to be held, which helps the other areas of life quite a bit.  I find myself wondering how I actually found time to load the dishwasher after breakfast, and then I realize it is because The Baby is playing nicely on the floor.  He still prefers to be held at nap time during the day and also wakes up a lot at night for comfort, so there's quite a bit of baby left in him.  I'd love some real sleep soon, but I'll try to remember that this is my last little one.  At 1am.  And 2am.  And 3:07am.  And 4:13am.  And 5:33am.

He can sit up for a while when he is willing to be still.  He cannot crawl, but he does not stay where he is put.  I'm happy we finally got the picture above today, even though it is blurry.  It's the first time we were able to capture his preferred method of trying to get somewhere.  It is the funniest thing.  Often he puts his head on the floor and stands up like that to push himself forward like a bulldozer.  He is very strong, but he has not yet figured out that there are much easier ways to get around.

He seems to be reaching a bit of the stranger anxiety stage.  Yesterday we went to pick the kids up from preschool.  As soon as he saw Cassia, he smiled the biggest smile.  Cassia's teacher came over to try to coo him into smiling for her, but he wouldn't give her even a tiny grin.  He'd look back at Cassia and smile big but nothing for the teacher.  That was a change from his usual very smiley self.

We gave him some banana today for the first time.  It was love at first bite.  I'd rather start him off with some vegetables, but I thought it would be cruel to serve him green beans for breakfast.  I was anxious to let him celebrate his 1/2 birthday with some real food, though, so banana it was.  We dusted off the high chair, and added it to our dining room set up once again.  I don't even know how many little ones have used that high chair in the last couple years.  I'm always happy to put it away, thus freeing up space in my house.  It was fun to get it out one last time, though.  I have no doubt that it will soon be one of his favorite places to be.

The Baby has been with us for just a bit more than 5 months of his 6 months of life, so he seems to be a full member of the family.  The kids all adore him, and the feeling is mutual.  I feel blessed to do the baby thing one last time, especially since I never dreamed we would do it again after Basia.  These months have already flown way too quickly, so I have no doubt there will be birthday cake on his face before I blink.  Until then, I have half a year worth of all things baby.  How lovely!