shake shake shake

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B’s first swing

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six months old

Dear Beatrice,

You are now 6 months old! Happy half-birthday! These are words I typed nearly 3 weeks ago without getting any further. You’ll learn, one of these days, how time can slip away from you despite all your best intentions. On the day I’m writing this, you are nearer 7 months than 6. However, I am going to write as if it’s your half-birthday, solely about the changes I saw in you between 5 and 6 months–and believe me, they were plentiful!

You have become very good at sitting up, to the point where your preferred position is sitting up on the floor–NOT lying down. However, your balance is still unpredictable, so we have to make sure there are cushions behind you all the time. The couple of times you have fallen backward without a cushion have been carpeted or on a soft mat, but of course they were still startling. Nevertheless, you are very easy to soothe and eager to get playing again.

Probably the biggest physical change we have seen in you is that you have sprouted your two front bottom teeth! They both appeared without much fuss from you, though oddly I think they bothered you a little right after they came through. It’s funny to think that my tiny baby now needs to brush her teeth.

You had quite a few other firsts this month. You sat in a highchair for the first time, went on a swing for the first time, and even had your first trans-Atlantic flight. (In fact, you turned 6 months in North Carolina, which is part of the reason I am so late with this letter.) You seemed to enjoy the highchair and the swing, and you treated the flight as if it were just another room you were in for meals and naps, so even that was fine.

In more firsts, this month you began sleeping from 7pm to around 7am, without a late evening feed, because I started giving you solids around 5.5 months. My intention was to hold out until 6 months, but you kept grabbing at my food and studying me intently while I was eating, and you refused to drink your milk if you were at the table with others eating solid food. You made it entirely clear that you were ready for something more. For you, solids have been a major success from the very beginning: you enjoy pears, apples, peaches, bananas, broccoli, green beans, carrots, sweet potatoes, avocados, and baby rice, and you’re even ok with a bit of texture. Like anything, this could all change, but for now you are a good eater.

You remain a very social little girl, and from visiting Daddy in the office to seeing your Granny and Pop-pop in North Carolina, you are full of smiles for everyone you encounter on the way. In fact, on your flight from North Carolina to Dallas, Texas, on your 6-month birthday, the flight attendant thought you were so sweet that she actually picked you up and paraded you up and down the aisle. You just beamed at the whole plane.

That is really the essence of life with you: you are a little sweetheart who brings all sorts of happiness to the people who get to spend time with you. Fortunately for me and Daddy, we get to do that every day. Even though I shouldn’t technically say this until next month’s letter, your Daddy was so happy when you got back from your visit to the USA. I think he was missing his daily dose of sunshine. (In fact, I heard it rained the whole time you were gone from the UK, but the sun has been out since we’ve been back–is that REALLY a coincidence?!)

I love you,
Mommy