Eli is 6 Months Old

I can't believe our baby has already reached the half-way point of his first year! He's still the happy, smiley baby he's always been... as long as he gets enough sleep. During the last month, Chris and I started sleep-training him using a modified Ferber method. I would say now that it has worked beautifully, but for a week or two at the beginning of the month, we discovered a different side of Eli - the overtired, irritable baby. That week or so seemed to last for forever with lots of whining and crying and skipped naps, but thankfully he's gotten the hang of self-soothing, is back to sleeping well, and is happy again. He now goes to bed around 7 PM, wakes once in the wee hours of the morning to eat, and gets up for the day between 7-8 AM. He usually takes 3 naps each day, unless one is particularly long, then it's just 2. He has also been weaned from his binkie and from swaddling.
In addition to sleep-training, we've also started introducing fruits and vegetables to his diet. It's been an interesting experience because unlike Colin, Eli has hated every new food we've given him. He loves his oatmeal and opens his mouth for it like a baby bird, but start giving him something else and he clamps his mouth shut and turns his head away. So far we've offered prunes, carrots and bananas. Despite the first few failed attempts, I have high hopes that he will soon be a hearty eater like the rest of his family.
Most everything else about Eli is the same. He's still enthralled with Colin, loves playing in his exersaucer, and loves reading (and chewing on) books. He puts everything into his mouth, enjoys throwing things on the floor, and is quite a chatterbox. He still isn't moving around a ton, other then to twist and turn to watch what's going on or to reach a toy, but will play on the floor for longer periods of time now. He loves to be carried around and really enjoys the Baby Bjorn. I also think (dare I say) that we may have a mama's boy on our hands. :)

I also wanted to give an update on his medical appointments. His "cosmetic" surgery with the urologist has been scheduled for November 4. We decided to stick with the doc we were already seeing because they other guy in the area couldn't even see us for an initial appointment until December. He's going in for his 6-month well-child appointment on October 20 and I'll update his weight and height after that. He has his pre-op appointment on October 21. His next follow-up with the pediatric surgeon is October 28. I'm going to ask if he can get his surgery scheduled at that point, but I think the doctor is going to insist on waiting until after he sees how he's healing from the other surgery. His last appointment with the surgeon was pretty uneventful. He's doing great with the dilations and we've reached the largest size we needed to go to (13 mm). I still dilate him twice each day, but he doesn't even blink an eye when I do it. Both boys have been real champs when I drag them to all these appointments, but I will be relieved when we don't have doctor appointments scheduled for every week.