6 months!

Lucy,

You're half a year old already! These posts are normally filled with a list of all your milestones and achievements but this one might be a tad more sentimental. My dad used to always joke that he was going to put a brick on our heads so we would stop growing but I never knew he actually meant it. It is exciting to see you grow and learn new things but honestly, I am a little choked up about you being half way through your "babyhood."

Another first this month was your first election party! (Notice the elephant)

You started solids which means technically, weaning has begun. And you've even put yourself to sleep three times this week. The last few weeks have probably been the hardest other than the first week of your life. I know you haven't felt good and you've been extra clingy so even one week ago, I would have been so relieved to have you be more independent but now I kinda have mixed feelings about it. I'd better stop dwelling on that now or I'll start crying.

It does make me so glad you are my snuggly little girl. I didn't realize how much so until the last few outings we have been at where other moms and babies are but you are really a momma's girl. You like to go places and see new things and new people for a little while but mostly, you like to be somewhere familiar, especially sitting in my lap or being worn and talking to me. You've started staring up at me when I wear you. You'll look around for a few minutes then stop, look at me, smile, then go back to looking around. It's as if you need to check in.

Mommy is teaching me the joys of catalog shopping!

Every once in a while I'll realize you are cranky but I can't figure out why when you should be full, dry and well-rested and then I'll realize that we haven't had face to face time. So we sit and "talk" and you love it! You'll often hear some random word and think it's funny so I'll repeat it and you laugh, I'll repeat it and you'll laugh over and over again. But if I say the same word the next day, nothing - which then makes me laugh.

The "kisses" I talked about last month are definitely kisses now. They are messy but deliberate. I can even turn my cheek to you and say kiss and you will lean forward and slobber on me. And you love getting lots of kisses too. A "smoochie attack" rarely fails to get a laugh.

But you love your daddy too. I can tell now that you really do respond differently to us both. If you are hurt or hungry, you want me but you've realized that this "daddy" guy is fun to play with. I love watching you light up when he walks into the room and I can't wait to see your relationship develop more and more.

I feel like this month was the calm before the storm, since mostly you've been developing in a slow but steady manner, pushing up higher and holding it longer, scooting backwards, being more direct in your handling of objects, etc. I think that any day now, you are just gonna take off.

Disappointed that he couldn't get any pictures of you in a pumpkin last month, Daddy stuck you in a kimchi pot for another fun photo op.

The one thing that you already have down is sitting. Overnight you went from sitting 1-2 minutes with me worried you would topple at any moment to really sitting. Today you played with a pot and spoon for about 10 minutes without needing any assistance from me to stay up. I would have felt unnecessary but you couldn't get back onto your tummy without my help. Normally, you just lean forward into a crawl position then collapse to rest on your belly but the pot was in the way so you were stuck! You stopped playing and I could tell you wanted down but I just watched you while you sat and thought for a moment, then you started screaming at me.

You can't say any words but you can definitely communicate! We call you our screamy mimi. You're screams aren't always mad, sometimes you just want our attention, but they are always loud. Speaking of communicating, I'm also pretty sure you tried to sign "change" back to me several times this past week when I changed your diaper but only time will tell if I am imagining that or not. You're just getting so big! (I think you are about 17 lbs but we'll find out for sure at your doctor's appointment on Friday then I'll update this with the official numbers)