Dear Carolyn,
Time is certainly flying by – you’re already nearly half a year old! You’ve accomplished so much this month I hardly know where to begin…
You’ve learned how to roll over both ways, although you haven’t quite put it together enough to get very far. You can sort of creep along on your stomach – not anything approaching crawling yet, but you can move an inch or two at a time. You’re even better at creeping along on your back – you use your feet to push off the floor and scoot backwards. And about those feet? You’ve figured out how to get those tasty little toes in your mouth so you can suck on them. Apparently big toes are even more satisfying than thumbs – even when they’re covered with socks.
You absolutely love it when I blow air at you so your hair flies around – you giggle and giggle whenever I do it. You also giggle if I shake my head so my curls bounce. Apparently, it’s also quite amusing to pull Daddy’s beard. We’ve started sitting you up on our shoulders, and you bury your hands in our hair and try to eat great fistfuls of it – and then make a funny face since hair tastes awful.
Actually, pretty much everything ends up in your mouth now. Your hand-eye coordination has improved greatly, and anything within your reach is fair game. You’ve even managed to figure out how to hold a bottle and feed yourself, and you’re starting to get the hang of sippy cups too. It’s a good thing we’re starting solids in the next couple of weeks, because you’re intensely interested in the whole idea of eating, and watch every move we make when we eat. If I hold you while I’m eating, you even reach for my food.
At the moment your favorite toys are a busy block that has wonderful things hanging off it to chew on, red doggie, who also has wonderful things (especially ears) to chew on, baby tizoo, who, well, also has dangly bits to chew on…and pretty much anything I give you that you can chew on. There’s a Step & Play Piano in your room which you could spend hours in if I let you – aside from the fact that it has things you can chew on, it makes lots of music when you step on the keys. The piano in the living room fascinates you too, and you don’t even try to chew on it. Molly and Murphy are an endless source of amusement. I think you especially like their wagging tails.
You’re getting better at sleeping – I think it has a lot to do with the fact that you almost always roll onto your tummy after I put you down. You seem to sleep a lot better that way. Generally naps are sort of a random thing, but bedtime has become fairly consistent, and you consistently sleep 4-6 hours in your crib before you wake up the first time.
I can’t believe how fast you’re growing, and how much you’ve learned so far. It seems like you’ve been a part of our lives forever, but then I realize that you’ve only been here for five months. That’s such a short amount of time to have accomplished everything you have already. In five more months you’ll probably be starting to walk, and talk – and since the last five months have gone so quickly, I’m afraid these next five will too. I’m starting to forget exactly what you were like when we first brought you home, and that makes me a little sad. But I have to admit, I’m excited too. I can’t wait to see what the next months and years bring, and I can’t wait to see who you become.
Love, Mommy
I ended up going to Target yesterday to find a different type of bottle and came home with the