S I X Months!

Half a year. Half a year!?!? It seems like a blur and yet it’s a half a year full of wonderful memories. 

This month’s milestones were biggies. She started sitting up, can grab her toes, developed object permanence and started canonical/reduplicated babbling. The babbling was just in time for this post. Last week she started making the /f/ sound with her gums and lip and was pretty impressed with herself. Then a few days later she discovered how to add her voice and make the /v/ sound. She got a kick out of playing around between those sounds and I had fun showing her all the bilabials (sounds made with your lips). She would just stare intently at my mouth and watch me make each sound (I just have to say, I put equal emphasis on [dadada] as I did [mamama]). Then on her half birthday she started babbling with /b/ and /m/. It’s just so darn cute! 

Emerson is at that ‘classic baby’ stage, sitting but not 100% stable (she still throws herself back when she laughs sometimes and a rogue toy gets the better of her now and then), she’s making those cute babble sounds, she’s putting everything in her mouth and reaching for everything in sight with her sweet chubby fingers and wrists. Oh and those cheeks. They're just so kissable!

She is 18 ½ pounds and 27 ¼ inches long. She fits in 9 month clothes the best and usually 6-9 months. Some 6 month clothes still fit, but they’re getting pretty tight. EJ is still on the first rise of her BG 4.0s but now there are three snaps open in the middle. She still fits in her co-sleeper, and has a little bit of room left. I’m surprised but glad that we've been able to use it this long. We find that we carry more toys than burp cloths now and although she can still entertain herself she sure loves it when we talk back to her, stand her up and jump her around. She also really prefers that we stay within line of sight unless she's very into what she's doing... but may or may not be too happy when she finds out you're gone. We busted out the Johhny Jump Up and after a few days of warm up, she just loves it (I know, the horror.. they're a little controversial but we used them as kids aaannd we're fine. While I don't love that logic for everything... we're using it in moderation).

She has also started napping a little longer, although not consistently enough for that to disappear now that I've said it online ;). Sometimes we even get two, two-hour naps in a day.

People always comment about how much she observes. She really checks out the room, people and actions very thoroughly, and notices new details every day. She really checks out a new person before deciding if she'll smile at them (she usually does) and is pretty reserved until she's familiar with a situation.

As always, I reflect on my time with her as pure heavenly joy. She is such a treat. I love seeing her learning, growing and exploring. She's our sweet P and she lives up to the name.

And now..

There's that cool hand again.

And those awesome feet!

Look at what I have!

Yawn!

A quick nap

Just-woke-up smiles

Love those pudgy fingers

Looking in the mirror

I'll try to sneak the dress up into my mouth slowly,
maybe then mom won't notice...

Watching Daddy

And here are a few out takes from our Christmas pictures: