Our Family Blog: Andrew's Week 24

Andy is just 2 weeks from turning 6 months. He has been busy!

Most people know Andy as an easy-going, happy go lucky, smiley baby. He is that, but we also know him as determined, ambitious, and focused. The latter qualities have been on full display the past couple of weeks. Andy is set on reaching all of his milestones, especially when it comes to his ability to grab and move.

He is really working his fingers and grip. He holds objects like toys and anything else he can grab for increasing lengths of time, and if he doesn't quite hold onto them the first time he tries again and again until he can get his fingers fully around them. He is putting things to his mouth - paper, clothes, the remote (his favorite target), a phone (his second favorite target), and Matt's toys - to explore them more. But he seems to save the chomping down for his teething toys most of the time.

Wiggling those fingers

Chewing on teething toys

Playing while waiting for his brother to finish class

Andy now sits upright unsupported for minutes at a time. He almost prefers now to sit, especially if that means he's on the floor with his bucket of toys in front of him. Here he is doing just that:

Andy is moving rapidly toward fully mobile. He will push up onto all fours, which he can hold for more than a few seconds now. He started pushing up and holding planks last week. He is also pushing himself backward while he's on his tummy. He is covering more ground that way. He hasn't quite realized what that means and started doing that on purpose, but I suspect that will happen soon. And I swear he pulled himself forward half an inch a couple of times the other day in the same position. All of these are signs that he may be crawling within the next 4-6 weeks. When Andy is on his tummy, he can finagle himself so that he faces a different direction from where he started. He still doesn't roll much, even though he has rolled both back to front and front to back. That said, when he falls over from sitting he often almost seamlessly moves himself into a prone or supine position. In other words, he seems to prefer to start a roll from sitting rather than lying down. Andy is also standing with a purpose more and more. He can hold onto something and stand on his own for longer periods of time. He can also turn around an edge, usually with some spotting and support. He may also take a hand off for a moment or two. This is technically from week 24, but this Tuesday he let go a couple of times for a second and stood on his own. (One of those times he even was able to resume holding onto his support without any help.)

On all fours

Plank position

Andy has two teeth: the second came in during that week between Christmas and New Year's, so he didn't quite have his two front teeth for Christmas! But he's working hard on more, most likely the two bottom ones on either side of the ones he already has. He should be getting his first two top teeth next, but they don't look like they're ready to come in yet.

This is not as impressive, but Andy has also started blowing raspberries. (This would be much cuter if his brother wasn't doing the same while being defiant!)

Onto more photos: