Soccer Dad

Six months

Two months ago I didn't notice a huge difference from the previous month. But this past month the difference has been huge. No it's not that she's started eating "solid" food. (Solid food for a baby would be considered a liquid for anyone else; all solid means in this context is that it has a thicker consistency than formula.)

She hasn't entirely figured out the swallowing aspect of food. Most of it tarries in her mouth a bit and then ends up on her chin. I bet if we added some chocolate syrup to the rice cereal that would change. :-)

The big difference has been in communication. Maybe it's just that I've started to get used to her cries and body language. If she's cranky and her hands are in front of her face: she tired. I can't necessarily identify how her cry is different when she's hungry or dirty, but usually I can figure it out. And she has that shriek when she's suffering from an attention deficit. (The shriek says, "I will not be ignored!)

A few weeks ago she was crying. We went through the drill - formula, diaper, crib. Nothing helped. My wife said that there must be something wrong and I'd take her to the doctor the next day. Sure enough, she had an ear infection. It's funny how, even now, that possibility didn't occur to me.

And then there's the non-verbal communication. If she sees you and wants you to hold her, she opens her arms in anticipation of your lifting her and giving her the attention she deserves.

I don't think that she'd fall asleep in my arms anymore. If I'm carrying her around at a time when she's supposed to be asleep and isn't, then she's more likely to be interested in taking in her surroundings than in closing her eyes and sleeping. (She usually is a pretty good sleeper, but this past Thursday night she woke up about 10 and refused to go back to sleep. Eventually, we just put her back into her crib and she fell asleep with little fuss.)

She still, thank God, has a wonderful tempermant and is easy to amuse. She likes nonsense noises and playing with her Exersaucer or Gymini toys. Her siblings are great with her. Even the younger two enjoy the opportunity to feed her.

A year ago was when we started telling everyone about the pregnancy. The older children already knew because of an X-ray. One Friday night we passed the ultrasound around to the two younger children. The then seven year old guessed. "Is it me? Is it ____?" Getting a negative for each inquiry he thought about it a bit. Then his face broke into a big smile and he burst out "you're pregmant!"

Thank God for the new blessing in our lives.

UPDATE: There's one other big change that I somehow forgot. She's made some progress on the center of gravity problem. That's right she's sitting up. That is, if we plop her down in a sitting position she can stay in a seated position for a few minutes. Usually she does eventually topple (babies wobble, then they fall down) if left too long on her own, but she can maintain her equilibrium for a non-trivial amount of time and even enjoys it.

UPDATE II: One other thing we've noticed is that she knows what a bottle is for. If set up she can hold the bottle in her mouth for a short time. Last week we watched as she figured out how to put the bottle's nipple into her mouth. But the bottle remained upright, so she was successful getting the nipple into her mouth, but she wasn't successful getting milk out of the bottle. It looks like center of gravity isn't the only concept from physics she has yet to learn; another is plain good old gravity.

Previous related posts: One month, two months, three months, four months and five months.