He's "very grande"

In all of our waiting, longing, and dreaming, we could not have imagined a more perfect baby. Really. Lest he ever becomes less than perfect, and we need to be reminded of how adorably cute he once was...a little bit about M.C.'s first 6 months.

-He's huge. At our doctor's appt. this week they checked his height twice because he was WAY off the charts, but it was right. He's in the "100th percentile," so he is literally the tallest 6 mo. old in the U.S. :) He's 80th percentile for weight, and 60th for head circumference. He's muy, muy grande.
-He's been sleeping through the night pretty consistently since 4-weeks. (If you can get him to bed, that is).
-He's a bad combination of his parents' worst habit--he's a super night owl (he thinks bedtime is between 1-3 a.m.). It often takes me 5 hours to get him to bed, but he will sleep a solid 8-9 hours after that.
-He will nurse or take a bottle, and always has. Sometimes during the day he will prefer one over the other, but he almost always will go back and forth as needed.
-He began smiling at 5 or 6 weeks and has never stopped. He will smile at anyone or anything. He tries to get everyone's attention at church so he can smile/laugh at them (he's great at distracting). He loves to watch the news because he thinks the reporters are talking directly to him, so he laughs and laughs.
-The first 4 or 5 times I brought him to church, he slept the entire time. It was amazing.
-At his 2 month check up, the pediatrician declared his cheeks were "awesome." I quite agree. (he did get them from me).
-He acts a lot older than he is. He's always been hyper-aware of his surroundings, and especially people. He's a people-person just like his dad.
-He's always been happy when he wakes up. He'll usually play in his crib for at least 30 minutes before beginning to whine. (unless he gets his legs/arms stuck in the slats--poor kid).
-He's never liked having dirty diapers. He insists on being changed immediately, so we go through a lot of diapers. This has gotten better but he still loves to be clean. He grins as soon as you lay him down on the counter to get changed.
-He loves his nightly baths. LOVES them. He recently learned to splash, and is very proud of himself.
-When I'm on the phone, he thinks I'm talking to him, so he'll stop eating (or whatever he's doing) and look at me, smile, then join in the conversation.
-He is distracted by anything with a screen. He's mesmerized by daddy's computer, ipod, t.v., or phone. We try to keep him away from all of them. We try.
-He's very patient and flexible. He can handle being around a lot of people in new places, changes in routine, etc. Even after we've been at church for 5-6 hours and he's hungry and hasn't slept at all, he's still smiling. He's also very patient with adoring cousins constantly all over him.
-He's the perfect traveler. He's already endured cross country flights 4 times, and flying back and forth between UT and AZ a few times (3?), sleeping most of the way, and hardly crying. On our last flight (the only one with Carlos, he messed his pants 3 times. Good times.) He also slept through most of our trips to and from Richmond, a 5-6 hour trip.
-He doesn't like to be in the car at night though. He likes to be able to see. This is also true for going to bed. He's more likely to fall asleep if the lights are on, and gets mad when you turn them off.
-He's had a stuffy nose since our first trip to AZ in November. It's getting better, slowly.
-He's ticklish.
-He rarely spits up and is usually very easy to burp (just sit him up). The first few weeks he had bad gas that was hard on him, but this has really improved (probably at around 6-7 weeks).
-No teeth yet, but I think they're coming. (I've been thinking that for 2 months now)
-If he's crying, there's a reason. He's hungry, in pain, tired, or needs to be changed. Otherwise he's usually very happy. When he is crying, he cheers up immediately when you pick him up. He likes to be where the action is.
-He thinks it's hilarious when we read to him. He laughs and laughs at picture books.
-He has a baby version of Carlos' laugh. It really is Carlos' laugh in a baby voice.
-He looks a lot like his daddy, but he got my dad's lips. He's very very handsome. (no bias here) And very vain. He loves to look at himself in the mirror.
-He makes my facial expressions at me. He has my glare down pat. It's slightly disturbing.
-He adores his dad, but he's a momma's boy and we have a blast together.
-He's the sweetest baby, ever. And he gets cuter everyday.