You are six months and such a funny, cute little girl. You found a fun way get around. You are so mobile. We call it the mermaid scoot. You pull yourself forward and then do a cute little push with your feet that looks like a flap.
Ah, my sweet girl.
You pump your legs when you eat. As you're nursing away, you scratch my back and pump your legs. You're a busy little girl.
You have been pushing up so high when you are on your stomach that I've lowered the crib mattress and pulled up the side rail so you won't go tumbling over.
In the bath, I've had to switch you to a larger bathtub. The "infant to toddler" bath tub simply won't do when you are turning around trying to roll or climb OUT of the tub. When we went swimming, I laid you on the ledge of the pool and I discovered how much you just LOVE being on your tummy. So that night, I pulled out the larger plastic tub, filled it with about an inch of water and put you in it on your tummy. You were so happy splashing and chewing on the plastic star.
Speaking of swimming. When we were in BC, I dunked you for the first time. And there you enjoyed the water even the first time. We spent about 30 minutes in the water! I was afraid to dunk you, but with the encouragement of Auntie Jamie and a few others, I did it.
I remember asking Auntie Vanessa wether or not I should go under water with you or not. She said, "if the water is going to distract you too much, then I would just dunk her." That was good advice. I've been dunking you since! And here we are, just over a month later, at the Y. And there you were just splashing and kicking your legs. It was like you couldn't wait to swim!
Nana says, "the way that girl kicks, she's going to be a swimmer!"
Six months is also the milestone where food is introduced. I introduced rice to you first. You had a typical, "what is that texture mom!" look to your face, but licked away every spoonful. I kept giving you rice cereal for over a week. I just didn't have my act together to get sweet potato as the next item. I finally bought the sweet potatoes, steamed it in the steamer outside (since it was so hot that I didn't want to heat the house up even a little), I ground it with the electric foodmill that I bought off Kijiji for $10. And voila.
Then I introduced banana the next day. Now I have to look what would be next.
As for sleep, you've kept me on my toes. You wake up about once a night on average. about 4:30am would be the time, after I've fed you at about 11pm and went to bed. There were a few days where you woke up every two hours. I had to take some drastic measures and let you cry a bit at night to break what seemed to be a forming habit. That quickly broke and there you are back to 4 hour stretches at night.
And as we close in on six months, you are so responsive and happy. Papa LOVES to take you on late afternoon walks, where I forego your need to sleep in your crib. Somehow he has managed to bring you back home after you've fallen asleep, laid you in your crib and have you keep sleeping for a long time.
You give Papa a most sweet laugh when you see Papa. You light up when you see it, it's so very sweet. When you see me, it's this eager yearning. But Papa gives you such joy. Ah, it's so heart warming to witness such a relationship. When I walk down the stairs with you in my arms, you always start babbling and making sweet noises as if to tell Papa, "here we come!!"
I have also noticed that you've responded with such glee when you see Daddy and I hug and kiss. You just light up. Seeing this, I realize that I need to show Daddy affection more. Our affection for each other is a symbol of the most important relationship that gives you a foundation for security.
Seeing that we are now more than half way of you turning a year, I realize just how fast time has gone! I guess I can still continue, but I have less than a year to breastfeed you, if I am to stop at the usual 12 month mark. Hmmm, looks like at the sound of my yearnings, I think I may nurse you for longer.
