This Little Six-Month-Old

This little (okay, not so little) six-month-old weighs 20 pounds and eight ounces and measures 27.5 inches long.  To give you an idea of just how scientific the length measurement is, she was 28 inches long at her four month appointment (and trust me, she has not shrunk). Go figure!

 

We've now lowered her crib mattress to the lowest position, to prevent her from climbing out and hurting herself one day, but, more immediately, to protect the poor mobile creatures that she had started grabbing, pulling down, and trying to eat.

She is a very vocal little peanut, spending a great part of each day squealing, grunting, or emitting long, low noises that sound kind of like a baby foghorn. Every now and then, she makes a big, satisfied-sounding sigh, as if she's just poured herself a big glass of wine and put up her feet after a long day at the office. Those are pretty great. Sometimes, when she's fussy, she makes a sound that goes something like this: "mumumumu." I'm pretty sure that her first words are right around the corner and that they'll be: "Mom, Dad, I just want to say thank you for all the hard work that you do to keep me fed and happy." Yeah, I'm pretty sure that's what she'll say.

She likes to hold and suck on a sippy cup, although I'm not sure that she understands yet that she can drink from it. Won't that be a revelation! For now, chewing on the bottom is pretty good.

She has eaten (or, more accurately, been offered) rice cereal, pureed sweet potato, pureed carrot, mashed potato, a Keebler Club Cracker (oops), steamed carrot sticks, chopped spinach, and cooked apple. She has smeared all of the above-mentioned foods on her face, hands, and highchair.

She loves to giggle, and Matt and I are shameless in our attempts to elicit laughter from her. Pretending to eat her hands, tickling her while changing her, or playing with a pink poodle puppet from Great Grandma and Grandpa Denny are all pretty reliable methods.

I'd say that she's doing pretty well!