I watch the Cryosphere Today site too. It looks like this year's maximum extent of sea ice was reached February 12th or 13th. That would put us into a cycle with 5 months of freeze-up and 7 months of thaw instead of 6 and 6.
The data are noisy and someone else can interpret it some other way. I have no particular expertise and I'd defer to anyone with an expert interpretation. The raw data on its face is terrifying.

I post a link to it periodically on the oil drum its a fantastic site.

I noticed the same thing myself. This time around though their is a lot more open water earlier in the arctic so I'm wondering if the rate of change won't increase a lot this year. Its amazing watching it melt just about in front of your eyes. Makes it a lot easier to realize that big changes can and will happen.