How is it possible that I’m sitting here writing Otis’ six month update?

Before I begin, I’ll acknowledge that I had no intention of going this long between blog posts, but you know how it is. First there was Christmas, which everyone can probably agree is a busy time, and then we all got Covid…for the first time. Then, there was the Covid aftermath, for the kids that meant lingering coughs which continued to interrupt their sleep, which of course interrupted ours, and for Tom and I, it meant extreme fatigue, shortness of breath and muscle pain. Just when I started feeling like I had the energy to do a blog post or edit a video, Covid hit again. Cue Mama’s ugly cry. And, just like the first round, we had to face the effects of having Covid. The cherry on top of this all is that Chloë brought home another cold from daycare and passed that on to Otis, so that’s where we are now – two adults still feeling the effects of Covid and two kids recovering not only from Covid, but from a cold.

But, this post is not a pity party or meant to complain about Covid. This post is to talk about our sweet Otis who somehow, in the blink of an eye, hit the six month mark earlier this week!

Otis continues to go by the nicknames mentioned in his two month update – Otie/Odie, Oats and Mr. O. He’s recently added O and O-Man to that list.

We have not had Otis’ six month appointment yet, it’s scheduled for next week, so I don’t have any of his current length or weight. At his four month appointment he was in the 98th percentile for length and 55th for weight. I can’t speak for weight (I know he’s over 17 pounds at this point), I guarantee that he’s still in the 98th percentile for length. He is a big boy! Otis is currently in size 3 diapers, though I think he’s close to moving to the next size. He is wearing 6-9 month pants and 6-9 month tops, but he needs 9-12 months for footed sleepers, and he fills those! I told you – he’s a big boy.

I’ve joked that Otis seems so sweet, easy going and cheerful because we have a “threenager” in the house. Of course by comparison a baby would seem like a breeze. But the reality is, he really is wonderful.

As cuddly as Otis can be, he also loves jumping and while he is not full on crawling, he’s definitely mobile – it’s a combination of dragging himself, rolling and spinning around. He can get surprisingly far this way.

Just like Chloë was this time three years ago, Otis is trying his best to pop his first tooth. He chews everything and drools more than a St. Bernard.

We recently introduced food. As soon as he realized he was the only one in the family not eating at the table, he didn’t give us much choice. Butternut squash took several bites before he decided it wasn’t the worst thing in the world. He absolutely hated mango. There was either a broccoli or a pea puree that got a dirty look. Prunes got whatever face is in the picture below and there was a pumpkin fruit blend that was a huge hit.

Food is still new, so it’s too soon to tell if we’re going to see longer stretches of sleep at night. Until now, he’s been awake every two hours at night to feed. Mind you, after having RSV, he then had Covid twice and then a cold. Understandably, it’s been hard to get into a good sleep routine.

While Chloë takes after Tom and is a complete night owl (her current bedtime battles are a whole other story), Otis takes after Mama and loves going to bed early. Of course, unlike a tired mother who would love to sleep until 7am, after going to bed early, Otis then likes to start his day at around 5am. I’m still trying to nudge him in the direction of staying awake an extra hour in the evening and maybe sleeping an extra hour in the morning. We’ll see how that goes.

Don’t let the above picture fool you – Otis absolutely loves his older sister. He lights up when she walks into a room and whatever she does, he laughs. Chloë has her moments where she seems to like him, but recently she asked when he was going home to his “Mommy Otis and Daddy Otis” and at least once a day is convinced he’s going to bite her (as previously mentioned, he’s trying his best to pop a tooth, so she’s not wrong, if she’s sitting near him, she’s at risk of being chewed on), she also thinks he’s out to steal whatever she’s playing with. I’ve tried pointing out that he moves at a snail’s pace – if he tries to steal your goldfish or your stuffed animal, you have about five minutes to move it before he gets it! The other day I carried Otis and we chased Chloëa around the house – I’ve never seen either kid laugh so hard, so I’m holding onto hope that as he gets more interesting, she’ll come around.

If these past six months went by in the blink of an eye, I can’t help but wonder if I’m going to blink again and find myself watching him eat his first birthday cake. If anyone knows how to slow down time, please, let me know.