Adelaide {6 months}

Dear Adelaide,


You are 6 months old! (Well, 6 months + 3 days.) Please slow down. I look at you and all of a sudden you are such a big girl. You are sweetly chunky and beautiful and so wiggly active and giggly and funny. Such a big girl. Each month makes my heart fuller and at the same time just a little bit sad. Time is moving so fast. Before I know it I will be going back to work and then I know it will move just that much faster. *sigh* I love, love, love this time home with you! I'm so lucky to have been able to stay home this long, but it's just making me that much more attached to you. The idea of leaving you at day care is akin to the idea of detaching my arm for the day and trying to go about without it.

You are becoming SO MUCH FUN! I've always enjoyed time with you, but you are truly beginning to play with your dad and me! Laughing, screaming, talking in your little baby language. I love it all! You enjoy being pretend dropped - held up high in the air in your daddy's arms and safely "dropped." You squeal and smile really big!

You are also starting to giggle really hard when I tickle you sometimes. It's adorable and always makes me laugh. You are the best part of my day, my life!

Sometimes when your daddy and I go to get you up after a nap, we end up just laying in the bed with you and playing for a long time. You are so active! You squirm all over the bed, lunging forward and grabbing absolutely everything.

And, this is so exciting, you are trying to learn how to crawl! You're not there yet, but I can tell you are working very hard to figure it out. You started by doing the "plank," which looks like you've lifted yourself up to do a push-up. Then you started rocking yourself back onto your knees. That's where we are now, waiting for you to figure out how to move those hands and knees! We can't wait until you're crawling around! Up until now you've had to rely on us to move you around and go new places. When you learn how to crawl, you will be able to move whenever you feel like it! I'm sure we'll be exhausted chasing you around, but it will be so much fun at the same time!

On your 6 month birthday, we gave you your first food! Since birth, you've only had mama's milk, but Wednesday we gave you a banana and you demolished it! By the end, banana was all over you, your clothes, your bumbo seat, and somehow it even made its way underneath you. You didn't make many funny faces or gag much, but you put the banana right in your mouth and started sucking away. It was sooooo adorable and exciting to see my big girl eating! A whole new world of adventures opened up!

Also, on your 6 month birthday, you made your first painting! After cleaning you up from the banana chaos I gave you a canvas board with a little bit of blue and yellow fingerpaint blobs squirted on it. You happily spread the paint around, mixing the colors. The painting turned out beautifully, if I do say so myself. So did your arms, face, chest, and bumbo seat/tray. You even managed to get blue/yellow/green fingerpaint all over my arm as I was trying to help you clean up! It was a lot of fun, and my hope is to have you make a painting every 6 months (at least), so we can see how your artistic eye develops!

Things are changing. I feel it. You're a little person, with her own thoughts and feelings and wishes, and you're learning how to express them. Squeals, screams, different cries. Your daddy and I are working hard to keep up with all your new sounds. And you'll soon be moving around and exploring the world around you in a whole new way. I'll be right behind you, guiding you, always. I love you sweet girl!

Love, Mama