Half a year old!

So... today we celebrated Charlie's half year birthday - except that I JUST realized, at 8pm, that it was in fact yesterday. I am not sure how we all managed to get it wrong. Of course Charlie doesn't have a clue so that's a bit of luck.

Charlie continues to be a cheerful little chap. His personality is beginning to shine through even more. He's laid back and easy to please. He's sitting up all by himself really well, though he seems to have almost zero interest in really moving and so has no interest in rolling. On the other hand he loves to play with his toys and he sits and plays so contentedly. He also loves his exersaucer and loves to 'run' in it while I cook dinner. He loves his brother and is never happier than when Raf is getting up to something he shouldn't.

The big event today, though, was Charlie's first attempt at solids. As we did with Rafi, we're sort of doing baby led weaning. Weaning in the UK means something different than the US. In the UK it means adding solids - and "baby led" basically means that skip the puree foods and go directly to table foods. Today Rich and I had lunch together and Charlie - as he has been this past couple of weeks - made a grab for some of our food. He enjoyed sucking on a slice of cucumber as well as an avocado strip!

For dinner we tried a bit more avocado and a bit of banana. He definitely had fun banging his spoon, and while he wasn't loving the avocado he did enjoy a bit of smooshed banana that found its way into his mouth. He had so much fun, and he even tolerated his new highchair.

And then there was of course his half year birthday cake... Alas poor old Charlie tried to grab some icing but I wiped it off his fingers before he could have a chance to lick them. Raf helps him out after singing 'happy birthday' to his little brother.

And a good night hug... quite vigorous.