Monaloca

Last saturday we held a double celebration at our house: my birthday and melina’s half birthday. We had a good mix of friends new and old, some parents, some not, and of course a handful of babies and preschoolers. Joey and Kai were the official party hosts and ended up baking me not one but three of my all time favorite: pumpkin pie. Now that I’ve had a few days to digest all that pie and recover from entertaining such a cross-section of guests, I’ll post a few pics and write a quick update.

I can’t believe our little girl is already six months, sitting up in a high chair sampling solids, and quite literally half-way to being a toddler. She looks more like a little person every day. As for development:

– She sits up on her own for long stretches, though I still surround her with pillows or my own legs for the eventual tumble.
– She grabs with intent, and will set down one toy to pick up another.
– She could care less about rolling over, but looks like she wants desperately to crawl. She does this move where she’ll go from sitting to falling on her tummy to stretching out her arms and legs like she’s trying to swim towards a toy that’s just out of reach.
– She makes the coolest, happiest sounds. Our favorites are the vibrating bubble lips (called raspberries) as she tries to sound out the “p” and “b” sounds – or at least I like to believe that’s what she’s trying to do!
– Our little girl LOVES to eat. So far only avocado has gotten a huge squishy face of disgust. Unfortunately, all food might not like her. She’s had a few rashes so we’re still monitoring new foods pretty closely. We’re hoping the rashes were just coincidental, and I’m sure her tastebuds are too.
– She’s as good natured as always. The other day she had on a knit cap while sitting in her carseat. When we stopped the car we noticed it had fallen over her eyes. She was bobbling her head around and grabbing at the hat, probably thinking “who turned out the lights and how do I move this thing around?” but didn’t make a peep of complaint!

Melina also did much better at daycare her second week. She was extremely happy each day when we dropped her off AND picked her up. After the first successful day and evening I suddenly realized I hadn’t heard my little girl cry in over 24 hours. I was happy for her contentment but ironically a little sad for myself. All babies cry. I knew she had at some point during the day. I just hadn’t been there to hear it. I’m doing better with this now, and appreciate my time with her so much more than I did even three weeks ago. Poor Joey, though – we usually pick her up from daycare together but I still won’t let him carry her to the car. Once I have her in my arms I don’t want to let her go. One day, Joey, one day…

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