Six months! March 21, 2007

Yesterday, Maddie had her 6 month ‘birthday’… a very special day!

We celebrated it by going to a friend’s house for her dad to get a haircut . The entire family has had a really busy week and we hope to mark the event before the weekend… one of those weeks where everyone seems to be one step behind.

A big event of the past week is that Maddie has gotten adept at sitting up by herself, without support! She has been on the edge of this milestone for some time now, but never really got it quite right. Well, now she has it (see accompanying photo). This is great for mom and dad – when she sits up she is happy and proud of herself and just staying upright requires much of her concentration, so she is occupied. Also, we can now read to her while she is sitting up which makes it a little easier for mom and dad. While sitting up on her own, she can grab toys and play with them, and even try to turn the pages of her favorite books. Occasionally she will tip over and sprawl out but never gets upset or cries about it – she seems to think falling over is a game.

Speaking of her favorite books, she likes just about anything, but gets particularly excited when reading Green Eggs and Ham and Chicka-Chicka Boom-Boom. The 100th time in a row is just as riveting as the first.

As we have passed the 6-month mark, it is now time to start thinking about introducing solid foods to Maddie. I think she has been ready for some time for this. When she watches us eat, she sticks her tongue out a lot, makes little chewing motions with her mouth and generally just gets excited. And sometimes she gets fussy while watching us eat. But perhaps the most telling indication is that over the past week, her sleeping progress at night has taken a definite turn for the worse. Before she was waking up maybe twice a night and it was easy to fall back asleep, but for the past 7 nights she has been waking up 4-6 times and not falling back asleep easily. I have read that this is very common when babies are ready to ingest something other than breast milk. It has been a frustrating week but hopefully she’ll start sleeping again when we introduce food.

It seems like she is changing even more rapidly than before with every passing week. For example, yesterday we were startled to hear a new cry from her (yes, she was very fussy). This new fussy cry is like a little girl’s cry more than a baby’s cry. Distinctly different than anything she has ever uttered before. And now when she’s upset and cries, she salty tears stream down her face. Heartbreaking!

This weekend we are flying to Morocco for a get-away with Maddie and a few other friends. I think Maddie will love Morocco’s colorful and vibrant sights. We originally wanted to wait until after this trip to introduce solid foods, but now we realize that it probably can’t wait. Hopefully this won’t complicate our trip too much. We are staying in very nice riads and guesthouses while in Morocco that should easily be able to accomodate a 6-month old baby… quite unlike some of the $12/night ‘palaces’ we stayed in last year. See, when you have a baby with you, you get to justify staying in much nicer hotels than you ever would have before!

Today we will go out and get some fortified cereal, and maybe an avocado if we can find one. I hope this solid food thing is a success. Wish us luck!

Through the night! March 6, 2007

Call it a miracle, divine intervention, or whatever, but on Sunday night Madeline slept for 10 hours on her own, in her own bed. Of course, the very fact that I am putting this down in a permanent record might mean that it will never happen again (did I just jinx us?) Partially it may have been the fact that we ran her ragged the entire weekend…. another very social few days for the girl. But she loves being social! Maddie continues to love life and live it happily. She celebrated her 5-month birthday a few weeks ago. The 6-month birthday will be the big blowout!

Lots of big events happening, or about to happen. It really is true that after 5 months, babies start to become much more interesting and fun.

First of all, Maddie is on the verge of sitting up on her own. We can place her on a sofa or chair and she can sit indefinitely… and sit her in the middle of the floor, or the middle of the bed, and she stays upright for awhile before eventually crumpling into a baby-ball (forwards, usually). However, as the days go by, she can sit longer and longer unaided. It’s supremely rewarding and exciting to watch this progression.

She’s also getting alarmingly proficient at scooting around. She knows exactly what to do to crawl (she knows it involves coordinated movements with her legs and arms), but she simply can’t get it together yet. She gets so frustrated that she can’t do what she wants! She is definitely getting mobile enough to scare the hell out of us from time to time (How did she get so close to the edge so quickly? Did you place her there? I didn’t!)

A few weeks ago, for the first time ever, Madeline and Hobbes (the cat) suddenly really noticed one another, and have been interested in each other ever since. They have some really hilarious exchanges. Part of me is a little scared at this (I kind of liked it when they were completely oblivous to each others’ existence). But so far, they have been very kind to one another. Maddie can sit for hours on end and simply laugh at him, and his feelings don’t seem too hurt. And Hobbes is very gentle when batting at her, unlike the way he treats me. My legs are a perpetual web of cat-scratches.

And finally, she has started using her high chair. What a great invention the high chair is. These days, high chairs are mini-entertainment centers that are very functional. All the playthings are bolted to the chair so as not be hurled as missles across the room. Maddie is just big enough to fit in this chair and looks amusingly diminutive in it. She greatly enjoys joining us at mealtimes, being able to sit at the same level as the dining room table and ‘participate’ in our dinners. She loves to sit and stare at us while eating, and make little chewing motions with her mouth. Indescribably cute.

Speaking of chewing, we plan to introduce her to food around the 6-month mark. Unfortunately we’ll be traveling through Morocco and Senegal around that time, so we will wait until probably mid-April to do this in earnest. I think she has been ready for solid (or semi-solid) food for a while now.