SIX MONTHS OLD!!

How the time has flown! Our dear baby Mischa is now our dear big boy! 

Mikhail celebrated his first half birthday by standing up like a big boy in the box Mama was trying to fill with clothes he's grown out of. He needed help standing but he held himself up pretty well for about a minute before being rescued :)

Our sweet boy is six months old today and never ceases to amaze (and entertain...). This big boy is full of smiles, smiles and more smiles. He grins for Nana, Auntie Liv and all the uncles. He grins and has a special growling game with Pop Pop, and he smiles sweetly for Auntie Maryana. He has excited squeals, wiggles and huge smiles for Daddy when he comes home from work, and of course Mama gets a few smiles too :)

  Mikhail LOVES listening to violin and has big smiles for my students when they come for lessons. He even sits on the floor and gazes admiringly at whoever is playing during the lesson. Sometimes the enthusiasm simply overflows and his own little song bursts out (That's usually when Nana comes to the rescue and she and baby go into his room for some fun, quiet reading and cuddling).

Quality time with Daddy is a very fun activity for this little guy. Sometimes it results in wearing a "cool hat".

We are still boycotting rolling around here. Tummy time used to turn into rolling time but not anymore. Now Mikhail prefers sitting or trying to stand or scoot forward on his bum. Sometimes we'll still get a smile out of him while he's on his tummy though :)

Eating (or pretending to eat) solids and drinking from a bottle all alone (ish) are also big accomplishments!

Suspiciously drinking from a bottle.

Pretending to eat an orange is a new favorite pastime.

Drinking from a REAL cup is what this boy likes best. With a little help, he is quite successful but ends up a bit soggy.

We started solids this week! Avocado was our first food of choice and he loves it with a little of mama's milk mixed in! (We are very serious about our food. Hence, the face)

Hooray for SIX MONTHS!