Half a Year

Dear Taylor,

I'm a little late writing this post, since your half-birthday just happens to fall on Christmas day. And we were kind of busy, ya know, taking your picture and ooohing and ahhhhing at your cuteness. You have officially been out of the womb for half a year. I decided to say half a year, because six months sounds older to me. Anyways, I can't even believe it.


By half a year you can:

• Sit up on your own! Go baby girl. If I place you in a sitting position, you can hold it for a very long time. You will play with toys while sitting upright. I think you feel accomplished now that you can sit up. Like you have a whole new view of life. You even take baths sitting up now. You love it.
  
• Roll over quite well both ways. Whenever I check the baby monitor at night, I never know how you will be sleeping. You are so good at changing positions on your own without waking up. You might be on your left side, then on your belly, then on your back with your arms above your head, then to your right side. I'm so glad you manage to self-soothe yourself if you do happen to wake up.
• Sleep through the night like a champ...11 hours baby. I realize that I sometimes take that for granted. I know that is not always the case in babies your age, and I am so thankful. You still go to sleep on your own and self-soothe if you wake in the night. It's so funny because when you get too sleepy, you are ready to be put in that crib. No snuggling for you. You want us to lay you down, so you can put your two fingers in your mouth, grab your blankie, roll to your side, and drift off to dreamland.
  
• Eat oatmeal. I finally gave in and decided to give you oatmeal. You didn't like the texture at all at first, but you've warmed up to it. After 3 days, you've already learned not to grab the spoon. We are starting vegetables and fruit next week. Yum.
  
• Wave. This has only happened twice, but you did it. Yesterday, I realized that I hadn't even shown you how to wave. Silly, I know. So we practiced a few times in the mirror and waved to daddy as we entered and left the room. You thought it was fun, but made no effort to wave on your own. I didn't really expect you to on the first day. But that night you were hanging out at the Settle's house, and you just out of nowhere decided to wave to Zac and Megan. And then today you waved at me while I was cleaning up the kitchen. You smart little thing, you. This has made mommy realize that she needs to get busier with the instructing.
• Practice baby signing. Mommy has been excited about starting this, but didn't know if you were ready. After your wave, she decided it was time. We are working on just a few to start with: please, milk, all done. You are not a fan of mommy moving your hands to make the signs, but you'll get used to it. You pay really close attention when mommy makes the signs herself, though.
• Take a shower. When we were in a hurry, mommy just held you under the shower while daddy bathed you. You loved it. When the water would touch any part of your head, you would close your eyes and scrunch up your shoulders. I guess to prepare for water in the face. So cute.
  
• Blow raspberries. You started doing these when you were upset, but now you will blow them at random.
• Manipulate objects very well with your hands. When mommy hands you an object, you always check it out. You will look at one side, and then turn it around to check out all the other sides. It's very impressive. You even did it with your Christmas stocking; you checked out the stocking from all angles.
• Still take 3 naps a day. Mommy is trying to get you to 2 longer naps; one in the morning, and one in the afternoon, but you still like 3 naps. We did drop the late afternoon nap, though.
• You love your daddy. Whenever he is around, you want his attention. You already think he is so funny, and your face lights up when he smiles at you.
• You watch people. You are constantly observing and studying people. You carefully watch their faces. You like to play a little game with mommy and daddy where we don't look at you. You will not take your eyes off us until we do. And when we finally do, you almost explode with excitement.
• Excitement. When you are excited, you will flap your arms like you are flying and make this panting sound. It's so cute. It makes it very easy for mommy to know what you want.
  
• You love peek-a-boo. You like when mommy or daddy pop out at your from behind things. You have just started trying to peek-a-boo yourself. You will take a blanket and lift it over your head and duck your head down, then drop the blanket, and smile so big.
  
• You lift toys above your head. Part of your play involves you lifting the toys over your head. I don't know why that's fun, but it is.
• Play. Your favorite toys: Scout the bear. Sophie the giraffe. Noise stick. Pink blankie. Music table. Teething brush. Mommy's phone. Giraffe blankie. Song bird. Books. You play well on your own, but mommy has to hide so you don't get distracted by her.
  
• Still trying to crawl. You still raise that cute little bottom in the air and push with your legs, but you don't get farther than a scoot.
• Milk. I still breastfeed 5 times a day and none during the night.
• Clothes. You are wearing size 1 diapers still, but mommy just decided to move you to size 2. Tiny thing. You are in size 6 month clothing mostly except for pants. You need size 3 month pants/skirts for the tiny waist, but size 6 for the length. So we don't wear pants much, mostly leggings, onesies, and dresses.
  
• Doctor. At your 6 month check-up you weighed 13 pounds and were 26 inches long. That puts you in the 5th, yes 5th, percentile for weight and 50th percentile for length. Mommy loves Dr. Stone because he doesn't make her feel bad that you are small. He reminds her that people come in all shapes and sizes, and yours happens to be petite. He just encouraged me to start fruits and vegetables and to make food readily available to you.
  
• You've traveled quite a bit. You've been to Virginia (3 times), Washington, D.C., North Carolina, Huntsville, and Cullman.
• You've stayed with several people. You've been sat on by Lynn, Aunt Heather, the Sleepers, the Wigintons, the Kennedys, the Settles. And of course Nonna, Aunt Jyme, and Grandma.
  

We are so in love with you, baby girl.

Love,

Mommy and Daddy