Sprout is Six Months Old!

Today Sprout is six months old!

Our sweet baby girl is now closer to a year old than to being newborn.  How very quickly it's gone by.

-Sprout is, as The Bean calls her, a "darling, darling."  I'm promise I'm not just being a biased mama here, she is just so sweet.

-Jen always wanted a snuggly baby, and I think she may have got one in Sprout.  When she's in the Ergo or wrap she will wrap her little arms around us and give a squeeze.  She'll also nuzzle into the crook of your arm when being bounced before going down for a sleep.  If you lie on the bed with her, she'll roll towards you and grasp at your face.  Likewise, if I nurse her when she is unswaddled she will pat my face or chest (or pull my hair... but we'll overlook that for now).

-She will still willingly let other people hold her, and even strangers can get away with a little tickle on her toes, but she is noticeably more critical of these situations.  She doesn't fuss, but she doesn't give everyone the big gummy smiles she once would have.

-She ADORES her big brother.  Often in the morning we put her in his crib and they cuddle.  He also likes to visit her and do babytalk or tickle her when she is playing.  He had her giggling so much the other night at dinnertime when he was blowing raspberries at her.  Very cute.

-Her giggle is just the best.  She sounds like a 80 year old man who smokes too much.  It's such a gruff little laugh coming from such a cubby-cheeked baby.  You wouldn't expect it.

-And, oh, the chub!  I love it.  She has lovely rolly thighs and creases all the way around her wrists.  And her (lack of) knees... adorable!

-She had her six month check up today and is just under 18lbs.  (That is more than The Bean weighed at a year old.)  I believe she was also nearly 28 inches long.  I need to write and ask them to send the exact measurements as we forgot the take the sheet with us.  I'd also like to know her percentiles.  I'm guessing she tops the charts.

-She is now firmly into 6-12m clothing.  I opened up the 6m box and found that there were some things that she never even got to wear that are already too small.  I actually need to pull out some of the 9m stuff because I'm pretty confident it'll be perfect for right now.

-Though 90% of the time she is in cloth, when she's in a disposable it is now a size 4.    

-Shortly after her five month update she began rolling both front to back and back to front.  She's now mastered that skill.

-Also, she's learning to crawl!  While she has yet to get her bum and her chest up at the same time, she is quite adept at worming her way across the floor to get wherever it is she wants to be.

-She can't exactly sit up, but she can tripod for about 5-10 seconds before toppling to the side.  She usually has a pretty positive attitude towards the whole silly situation.

-We've broken out the Jumperoo.  She loves it!  The kid seriously goes nuts for this thing, jumping up and down for minutes at a time. ;)

-She's been showing an interest (watching, reaching for) in food for a while now.  We started off with some avocado, but she threw up both times we gave it to her, so we backed off.  She's still only tried a handful of foods (I think brown rice cereal and pears are the only new ones this month) because I'm reluctant to give her anything but breastmilk for a few days after she's vomited.  And she's been vomiting about every 3-5 days.  I'm quite distressed about it, but the pediatrician said if there are no other signs of distress not to worry too much.  Since he's not concerned, we may start introducing more foods.  She's not very good at eating them and mostly just takes a tiny bite and then pushes the rest around with her tongue.  We're in no rush.

-She nurses well.  She eats about every three hours around the clock.

-When she is tired she shows it by rubbing her eyes and talking.  If we put her down when she starts these things, it usually doesn't take long for her to fall asleep.  She usually sleeps with her arms swaddled in a large receiving blanket, though if she is very tired she will sleep without it.  She takes almost all her naps in the co-sleeper beside our bed, unless we are out and I am wearing her.  We still rock/bounce her until she is nearly asleep before putting her down.

-Her sleep is very similar to her brother's at this age.  She goes down between 7 and 8pm (often waking about 45 minutes in and doing another small nursing session) and is usually up three times overnight to nurse --11:00, 2:00 and 5:00, though sometimes she will sleep through the 11pm feeding now.  I'm tired, but still not terribly fussed about getting her to go longer through the night especially since she goes back to sleep quite easily.  This stage won't last long, so I'm trying to enjoy it rather than rush her through to the next one before she's ready.  (I'm also concerned that if we're trying to get her to skip a feeding and she ends up crying it will wake up The Bean, which will be more disruptive than me just nursing her would be.)

-Everyone comments on how she must be teething.  It's true, she puts absolutely everything into her mouth to chomp on.  So far there are no signs of teeth though.  Just lots of drool.

-Her eye-hand coordination is pretty good.  She grasps at toys (or whatever) and is able to bring them to her mouth.  I haven't yet noticed her passing things from hand to hand.  Both Jen and I think she maybe left handed.

-She is increasingly interactive.  She smiles, talks and laughs.  She loves being "surprised" and thrown in the air (still very gently) or bounced around.  "You Are My Sunshine" is still her favourite song.  :)

We love our darling sunshine baby so much.  We're looking forward to the upcoming months and having some extended family time together over the summer.