- Crawling: She hasn't quite got this one down, but she is up on all hands and feet while wiggling her wee bum around in the air. Yes, unbelievably funny and adorable... but NOT at 3am. It seems her perfect little body has a in-built need to perfect this new skill at ALL hours of the day and night. We are back to waking pretty much every two-hours, and usually I find her on her hands and knees at this time, crying but still asleep. Talk about multi-tasking! Thankfully I can often get her back down pretty quickly but SHEESH... save it for the daytime!
- Sleep-Regression: See above! She's back in my bed, waking pretty much every two hours (although its usually quick to get her back to sleep). I've been reading that these "regressions" are common, just got to ride 'em out and she'll eventually go back to her "normal" habits (hers, in all fairness, are pretty good). Now, if only I can be assured that Mum will go back to "normal"!!
- Eating Solid Food: We've begun to introduce our little girl to the world of eating solid food, stuff that comes from the kitchen rather than mummy. She's not been a super huge dive-in fan, but certainly lets me know when she wants to try more. We've had oatmeal, avocado and sweet potato so far. While it's super fun to watch her figure out "how" to eat, it also adds a lot more to my day: preparing food (shopping, cooking, cooling, mashing, etc.), feeding her (and wrestling the spoon out of her slippery hands), cleaning up (highchair, hands, face, legs, feet, bib, mum, floor...), and then of course the dishes (yet again). I am impressed how she lets me know if she wants more or not, thats pretty cool.
- Poop. So with the introductions of solid foods, so changes the poop. No need to go into detail here, but as we are using cloth diapers (and got rid of our diaper service) I am cleaning up poopy diapers at least once a day.
- Growth Spurt. Along with reaching the 6-month mark comes the second major "growth spurt" which means more frequent cluster feeds which they do to increase the milk production. Smart little beings that they are. Between this and the introduction to solid foods it makes the majority of our day about feeding and food. Oh, and squeezing my meals in when I remember too.
- 26-week Developmental Spurt. I read about these in the Wonder Weeks book, and so far she's been right on schedule with these milestones. These "Developmental Spurts" are pretty cool actually, although they can bring along a whole bunch of "not-the-norm" behaviours until they work through them, including interruption of sleeping habits (see above), crankiness, neediness, etc. Right now we are in the "World of Relationships" spurt, and the "separation anxiety" is apparently just around the corner.
- Countless Other New Things. In addition to the all of the above she must be experiencing so much more in her little brain, body, emotions:
- vocal chords - we are hearing all kinds of new, loud and often high-pitched sounds.
- discoveries - her little fingers are becoming so dextrous, holding and feeling tiny little things.
- digestion - her digestive system working differently with the introduction of solids
- teeth - although we still have no sign of teeth there must be a bunch of stuff happening beneath her gums.
- hair growth - yeah, not traumatic or anything but just wanted to mention that it is finally coming in, she looks like a fuzzy duckling as you can see in the photo!
And a bunch of other things we can hardly even imagine. With all of this going on, she is doing AMAZING! Even with the sleep regression, she is a wonderful being and she melts me. Sometimes I wake up to feel her little fingers exploring my arm or hand during the night and it is the most wonderful sensation, even through the sleepy haze.
