Month 6

Well, well, well look who made it to half a year. Have you actually been with us for 6 months now? I recall quite clearly when it was easy to count the days you were alive, my bleary sleep deprived brain could count to 5, 6, 7....and then the days blended into weeks. One day, I turned around to clean spit up off of my pants and when I looked back, you were 6 months old.

One of your most prominent characteristics this month is your broad, unrefined sense of humour. You find the oddest things funny such as:

- Coughing: it has become your personal knock knock joke. You chortle heartily when we cough and have developed your own joke cough as well

- Being naked: something about a bare bum makes you giggle. (Don't worry, it happens to me too).

- Having your Dad or I stare at you for longer than 10 seconds: this induces a cheesy grin every time(you'll never win a playground staring contest at this rate)

- Laying in your crib: the sheer banality of peering between the slates elicits a guffaw. As your parents we also find this humorous, except when the noise is made at 5am.

And the list goes on.

Let's turn our attention to your albatross (don't worry, it doesn't hang from you neck, I realize that is a choking hazard):

ROLLING. You have made significant progress by becoming a consistent roller from tummy to back. However you show no interest in going back to tummy, despite my promise of buying you a 6 month birthday gift. Instead me and my mukluks wait patiently for you to complete this milestone, demonstrating at least that mild interest in progressing your mobility skills. Part of my self-developed physical therapy program involves you laying on your back, on my outstretched legs. As you twist and turn all 21.5 pounds of baby muscle, I let gravity take over and you gently fall off my legs into a roll onto the carpet. This makes you laugh, as outlined in the previous paragraph. So far this is the closest you've come to rolling back to tummy on your own.

Speaking of mobility, you are thisclose to learning how to sit up. And I'm afraid to report that your biggest detractor from this accomplishment is yourself. You see, whilst in a perfectly sufficient sitting pose, you insist on arching your back and waving your arms around like you just don't care. Perhaps this is your version of a trust fall, making sure that your parents catch your perfect, warm little head every time? In any case, your trunk & neck strength is amazing and I bet you would love sitting, if you just gave it a chance. Sadly it isn't as dramatic as erratically arching your back and doesn't lend itself to theatrics. But I promise you it will pay dividends in the long run.

Your Dad and I enjoyed your first Halloween. We kept it pretty low key, mainly because your father deemed it inappropriate to pimp you out for Halloween candy. I felt this was merely a fringe benefit of having a child, but alas, I was overruled. So instead we visited Auntie Sister Bear and then went for a walk in our local community. You were decked out in your costume, complete with a monkey costume that had a banana in the pocket.

Speaking of bananas, eating is something you enjoy very much. You have welcomed all new foods we give you with little resistance. However you have developed a pecular habit of grasping the pinky finger of whoever is feeding you. We've deduced that this is your way of trying to control the intake of food, because you hold the finger steady when you're not ready for a bite and you pull it towards your mouth to indicate "more please!" See diagram to the left:

I assumed all babies eat like this, given my complete unfamiliarity with baby feeding. Come to think of it, I'm not sure if I've ever fed another baby. Surely my sister at some point? But I have no recollection of this. Anyway, from what other moms tells me this is kind of quirky and not done my all babies. Yet you are happy with the arrangement and we have no complaints, so feel free to continue grasping our pinkies if you feel it gives you a greater level of control over the speed of the feeding process.

I'm slightly afraid but also excited to see what your next 6 months bring us. I hear that you are going to become increasingly mobile . What? No more lying where you are put and happily playing with whatever toys I scatter around you? This is rather alarming as I'm not sure what to do with a baby who moves. But I'm sure your Dad and I will figure it out and if not, there is always google.

Love,

Me.