Six Months

A very merry un-birthday to Little Miss!
Half a year. Amazing.  It seems like She should still be a newborn, like She just got here. But no.
She's grown up so much, and She's giving us every sign that She just intends to keep right on at it. She's made a lot of progress since Her last month birthday. 

There's the sitting, and the rolling, of course. Major developments.  She gets up on all fours, determined.  Go baby go! She gives a good lurch towards Her goal. Go baby GO!  She kind of collapses into the military crawl.  It's ok! That works! Go with it baby go! But then- and this is the bane of Her existence- She starts moving the limbs, focused on that toy/dog/corner by the sofa/whatever, and even though She swears She's going right for it, it keeps getting farther away. How can it be? She reaches out for the Goal desperately- "don't leave me!!" but then She's got Her arms and legs splayed out, balancing on Her (rather ample) tummy in perfect skydiving form, and that really is frustrating. Because now She's not getting anywhere at all.  Backwards schootching.  The one and only thing that really ticks Her right off.

Because otherwise She is still going for the record of World's Happiest Baby.
I tell you this child smiles All The Time.  She barely fusses even when She ought to.  She's just a happy, contented little soul.  And She thinks pretty much everything in Her world is just delightful.  Wind in Her face.  Dogs in Her face.  Her sister singing LOUDLY in Her face.  Music, thunder, water, ice, whatever man! It's all good times!

Her sister is a fave, though, truly.  Even though Little One has Her moments of, oh I dunno, intentionally stepping on Her baby sister... hypothetically. Ahem.  Uh, even though all that, She generally does love to snuggle, coo over, and entertain baby, and Little Miss eats it up.  When Little One gets home from school, Miss does Her lit-up-happy-baby dance, every time. 

Other favorites include splashing in water- a big change from Her first opinions on baths and beaches for sure- and any toy that makes music and lights up.  Unfortunately.  Being toted around in the baby carrier and snuggled lying down are Her absolute top two happy places in life.
She tolerates the exersaucer and the jumper, She is so over the bouncer and swing (which She never really liked anyways).  She deals with the car seat and stroller, but only to be nice. 

She loves to have a nice, wide open floor to roll on and a basket of baby toys to sort through, chew on, and feng shui around the room.  She spends all morning doing this while the rest of us get ready for school and work.  She could care less what we are all up to, really, She has Her own hobby to attend to thanks.

She kinda likes reading, but the fact that you don't get to chew the books seriously bugs Her.  After about two pages She's like "ok ok, blah blah blah.  How about you keep talking to yourself, and I eat those three little bears now?"  Boring.

But there's a fine line between boring and scary.  Little Miss still does not enjoy rough-housing or sudden surprises.  She tries, but She really does get frightened by too much commotion.  She likes the playground swing, for example, but only after a few very gentle pushes, with lots of adult reassuring while She looks up with Her concerned face to make sure they know what they're doing there.  And only if She's being pushed very slowly, very gently.  Too high and She cries.  Cries and cries and needs to be held super close, clutching your shirt, and burying Her head in your shoulder for a few moments until She feels safe again.  Likewise slides are still too much, fly-baby-over-your-head is too much.  People popping out and yelling "BOO!" is way too much.  She would rather just calmly observe, from someone's nice cozy lap.  Or else She might need pacifying.  

Her addiction to the pacifier is wild.  Today, in fact, is day one of Pacifier Rehab, and we have come to rely on it so much that I'm almost sad to see it go.  She just likes it so much guys.  And it's very, very hard to tell that dimple "no".


She desperately, passionately, wants whatever it is you are eating.  She looks at it like a starving street dog would eye your Big Mac.  It's kind of guilt-inducing.  Kind of funny.  Good thing solid foods are right around the corner, or I think She might start plotting a coup to get my oatmeal.


Her fine-motor skills are pretty sharp, maybe because of all that work learning how to pick up, correctly orient, and properly insert that beloved pacifier.  She loves to find little things to observe closely and try to dismantle.  The smaller the better, to my frequent horror.

She loves to talk and babble, and sort of sing to Herself when She plays.  She will adore you if you take the time to have a 'conversation' with Her, letting Her answer you and then replying to Her coos.  She gets all excited and just pours out Her life story.  There's a lot to tell!

Like how She's still growing at a mad rate, chubby little thighs and pudgy tummy getting squishier all the time.  In fact, when you throw in that big cloth diaper, She can easily share shorts and skirts with Little One now.  Her nails grow so fast I cut them twice a week for my own safety, and Her hair is actually pretty long.  You just can't tell because it is so fine and fair.  It will be interesting to see what it decides to do with itself.

She is a morning person.  Little Miss likes to sleep promptly at, if not before, bedtime.  And She likes to wake up between five and six, like a little piece of toast springing from the oven.  She always wakes up with a sigh, and then a giggle.  She immediately starts kicking, flopping, squirming and singing.  She calls for a new diaper and some breakfast, and then She is ready for the day.  She does not like to sleepily snuggle awhile, or slowly wake up, stretching in Her crib.  No.  Up, at 'em, ready for toys and exercise and voice practice like Now.  This is turning out to be rather an adjustment for me, since 5-6 used to be my time.  But as usual, She's so cheery you just can't fault Her for a thing.  And though She's up early, She does take long, solid naps as long as Her schedule isn't mucked around with, and She literally begs for bed at night.

Little Miss overall is a social, outgoing, chill little baby who is simply in the business of loving life.  She's working hard on all those baby jobs like growing, getting around, and figuring out the talking thing.  She adores Her familiar people and toys, and we adore Her.

It's crazy to think that only half a year ago, She wasn't around giving slobber-kisses or wrapping chubby arms around my neck.  Hard to believe Little One ever had enough to do without Miss to so constantly worry about and play with and fetch things for.  In just half a year, She has up-ended and rearranged all of our lives!  And they sure look good with a smiley Miss in the middle of them.
We over-the-moon adore you, Little Miss!  A very-merry un-birthday to you, who makes a very merry every day for the rest of us.  We love you.