Who is Archer? A Personality at 6.5 Months

Archer is cruising in towards 7 months old. They say at this point that pieces of their personalities will start showing through at this point. But how do you tell? Honestly, I find comparing my baby to other babies to be the best way to figure out how my little dude's personality might be different than everyone else.

Yeah, screw you, Karl. I have my own theories.

Now I do not mean that I compare my kid to other babies in a 'who is the best baby' kind of way (because obviously my kid is the best and cutest and smartest and no other child could dare to compete). I mean in a personality sense. I start to see that other babies are more vocal than mine, or more chill, or more picky etc. Until I met other babies, pretty much everything Archer did was just how a baby acts. But I am slowly learning that it is how Archer acts, and other babies are totally different.

Typing this out, I realize that must read like I am an idiot. Oh, your baby is different from other babies. Duh. They are human. Everyone is different. Thanks, Captain Obvious. What can I say? When you're so close to it, it's easy to miss the forest through the trees. All of the sudden I'm starting to see the forest.

It's such a spectacular thing to witness a personality come out of a kid! When he came into this world, his brain was all lizardy and didn't know how to do anything except breathe, eat and keep growing. But neurons start to fuse, and over 6.5 (very) short months, a personality starts to come out of thin air.

I remember my dad talking about us as kids and being amazed by this same learning experience. All of the sudden, seemingly out of nowhere, there is a person developing with her own thoughts and feelings. And then they start going to school and learn things you didn't even know. I imagine there is one day in every parent's life where they realize that their kid is smarter or more knowledgeable than themselves in a certain capacity. I can't wait for that moment - I'll be so proud.

Anyway, down to business. Here's how I see Archer's personality so far. We'll see how it matches up with him in the future.

• I realize now that Archer is fairly chill. He's not the most calm baby in the world, but I trust that if he is crying, something is wrong. He is tired, or hungry, or in pain somehow. He is generally quick to sooth and I thank my lucky stars for this. Both me and his dad are on this wavelength, too, so it makes sense that we don't have a baby that enjoys the drama a bit more. 
• He seems to like figuring things out in his head. When trying to figure out a new toy, or experience, he usually keeps pretty quiet and just mentally processes the experience. My hope for him is that this develops into him being open to new experiences before deciding whether or not he likes something.
• That's not to say that he's not vocal. He seems to like to entertain himself through a series of terrible noises when he gets bored. I hope this means that he won't have too much trouble entertaining himself as he grows up. 
• He is very quick to smile and responds happily to routine. 
• He is open with meeting and playing with new people (as long as he doesn't make strange), but can get overwhelmed with too many people in one room. 
• He's developing an impish little grin that comes out when he thinks he's doing something fun or sneaky. It's the smile I imagine him having on when he attempts to tickle us when he's 3. Or catches us on our own bullshit when he's 15. 

Sure, he's also figuring out how to whine when he's in his highchair but doesn't have food yet. And I'm sure that there will be many times in the future where I'll want to tell him that the jerkstore called and they're all out of him. But for now, I think I have a pretty happy, sweet kid on my hands that is happy to come along for the ride. What more could I possibly ask for?