09 August 2014

Happy Half Birthday (6 Months) to Rose!

Happy 6 month birthday to my sweet, happy, and beautiful daughter Rose!

The 6 month doctor's visit meant a couple more shots - poor thing - but she's a champ and quickly recovered.  We received a wonderful report on her growth. At 16lbs, 8oz she's at the 64th percentile for weight, and at 25.5 inches she's at the 44th percentile for height. She is leaps and bounds beyond her developmental milestones and the doctor was so impressed with her ability to play sitting up unassisted.

Here is a summary of Miss Rose's 6 Month Updates:
  • The past month has been such a joy. Rose is such a happy baby, smiling and laughing frequently. We can't help but laugh and smile with her.  
  • Our ticklish girl can't hold back her giggles when you nuzzle her chest and armpits. She also makes the cutest little happy face when you brush hair along her face.
  • Rose is a daddy's girl in the making. Her gaze follows Colin wherever he goes.  
  • She's also very interested in Darwin's movements.
  • She tries to give people kisses by opening her mouth and pulling your face to hers. We all end up with lots of saliva, and I get a lot of my hair pulled, but it's definitely worth it.
  • She is able to grab and hold on to objects of various sizes and shapes - like fairly large playing blocks or her pacificier (and everything in between).
  • Objects she grabs go straight to her mouth and she's quite good at the accuracy of the movement.
  • She still prefers sitting and standing to crawling or tummy time and spends a great deal of time playing in her exersaucer or her new johnny jumper (aka jumperoo). 
  • She gets a little rough with some toys, so we've swapped out many of her plastic rattles and key rings for softer, plush toys.
  • While on her butt, Rose has been practicing rocking and we think she might be a butt-mover instead of a crawler. She is definitely active on her back, on her tummy, and on her butt. She has no problems flipping from front-to-back and back-to-front. When someone is close by, she tries climbing up the person to standing.
  • Rose still loves the pool and sits up really well in her pool float. She knows what it means to "splash-splash" and she loves to splash with her hands and feet on her own.  Thanks to her pool float, we are able to cover lots of distance in the pool and she loves to move forwards and backwards.
  • We introduced Rose to a swing at the playground last week and she loved swinging. From the first moment in the swing, she acted like she's been swinging for ages. She knew exactly where to grab and held on tight when swinging faster.
  • Rose continues to be a very observant child. She loves looking all around - taking in her surroundings wherever we go.
  • Rose enjoys listening to her nursery rhymes on Pandora and looks towards the speakers when the music plays.
  • She also continues to be quite the chatterbox and has said words that sound like "mama" and "oh yeah" and seems to favor sounds that start with the letter "b".
  • Rose is still exclusively consuming breastmilk and takes about 24 ounces per day, half of which she gets from a bottle. She's been ready for solids, and we've tried carrots and avocados so far. We'll probably do a combination of "baby-led weaning" and purees (which is anti baby-led weaning). Rose definitely preferred holding the carrot stick and avocado stick herself to the pureed/chopped carrots we tried to give her.
  • Her bowels have gotten more regular. After a long, 20 day stretch without pooping in July, she's now more consistent with 1-2 poops a week. I'm not looking forward to the solid-food poops that will be much more difficult to get out of her cloth diapers!
Rose at 6 Months

Rose trying to eat the camera!

First attempt eating avocado the "baby-led weaning" way...

Are you really going to take a picture of me as I eat this thing?

Let's see how it tastes...

hmmm - not too bad...

I think I'll keep eating it!

I'm not sure how much food Rose actually got into her mouth or how much she swallowed, but she seemed to enjoy herself. She made quite the mess on her face, in her hair, on her bib and clothes, and on the high chair. Darwin had a great time licking avocado off Rose's hands and she enjoyed him doing it.

6 Months is such a fun time!