What a difference a month makes

Freak asked me the other day, "So is she really THAT much different from when we went to St. Louis for her six month birthday?"

Um. Yes. Clearly *some* parents have been living under a rock during April.

At six months, she was barely sitting. If she made it a full minute, we assembled a camera crew and audience to commemorate the event. Now, she sits any time she feels like it, and levers herself in and out of sitting position with Olga Korbut like grace. She can do Pilates style sit ups and twists. She can hold  and grab items while sitting, whereas a month ago, this was a challenge for her.

At six months, rolling was still her primary mode of locomotion. She'd roll, roll, roll from one end of the room to another, but there was much angry bleating. She tried creeping, but again with the angry bellowing. Now, she started crawling on her seven month birthday, and there's no contraband too hidden for her to find (and eat). The angry bellowing has been replaced with shrieking. Yes. Shrieking. And chortling and "ah ohhhh ahh oooh" when she finds something she's not supposed to have. She particularly favors paper. At six months it was still all about spoons and kitchen implements. She's much more discerning now, preferring gum wrappers, paperback novels, magazines, and junk mail.

The crawling has brought with it increased body control and sense of space. She'll push away from us when she wants down. At six months, she was still being worn several hours a day. That's really reduced, both because she's ENORMOUS and because she's so eager to be down. She often seems to prefer alternating "up" and "down" time.

At six months, she had her first real food--apples and carrots. She mainly liked to gnaw on the raw variety, but she enjoyed full body painting with the purees too. Very little went down the gullet, but now, she eats a variety of purees, and will open her mouth like a baby bird for her favorites. She mainly prefers to feed herself, with varying results. She'll chase peas, raisins, pasta, bananas, and other soft bits around her high chair, but these don't often make it down the hatch. At six months, we had no high chair. Now, we have two (the family heirloom and IKEA).

At six months, she had no teeth. Lots of teething, but no teeth. Now, she's got three, with more lying in wait. At six months, she could babble, but no real consant sounds. Now she says, "dadadada" when happy and "mamamamamama" when pissed off. Mamamamama is thrilled about this. There's way more laughing and giggling now, but also more indignant squeals when her will is thwarted. Beware the will of Tavy. She knows her name now, only she hears it as "Queen of All I see."

She interacts more with people now. She responds to them, and seeks out their interactions by smiling or babbling at them. At six months, she still hated the car and had a little bit of stranger anexiety. She doesn't have that now. She loves to go out, and while she still hates the car seat, she seems to welcome the actual going-and-doing part. She goes to story time and play group now. At six months, we were mainly there for Mama, but now we're there for her too.

At six months, she was just starting to outgrow the nine month clothing. Now, she's solidly in the twelve month clothing, and  can easily wear most of the 18 month stuff too.  Her torso is really long, so we have to play with different items to get the right fit--long-legged outfits  don't work as well for her. At six months, she was still being swaddled. Then all of a sudden, she started climbing out of the swaddle to sleep on her tummy, and now she sleeps swaddle free, mainly on her side or her stomach. She also set a new earlier bedtime for herself, but she also wakes up more often too.

She's started nursing until *almost* asleep then popping off and slumping the rest of the way to sleep on my chest. At six months, nursing was still her primary source of comfort, but now there are times when it doesn't work, and I'm at a loss. She's advanced in the nursing olympics to tugging at my shirt when she wants to eat, and tries to switch sides herself.

At six months, she was bald as a cue ball. At seven months, she's . . . . . . .still bald as a cue ball. But she has so much more presence now. She has a neck. She seems more and more like a little girl, with a 1000 expressions, and a personality that explodes from the moment she wakes up. At six months, she was still very much a little baby, and now she's T*A*V*Y! But she's still bald, so yep, everything's the same.

Comments

[DementedM]

She's such a cutie.

Whoops hit the wrong key and posted before I was ready.

I wanted to add that if she likes paper, get some gift wrap tissue paper. You can play peek a boo with it. She can shred it, wad it. You can hide little toys in it for her to unwrap.

Just stick a paci in her mouth so she doesn't eat the paper.

M