Letter to Baby

Dear Avonlea,

So, I totally missed your 6-month letter. You know why that is? Because we have been SO BUSY!  You have changed your naps, so you now sleep about an hour in the morning around 9, and then take a longer, 2-3 hour nap in the afternoon around 1 or 1:30.  This means I'm not able to get as much done during the day, but it also means that we have a lot more time together during the day, too.

Your little personality is really starting to come out. You love to smile and giggle. You play independently really well. You have been starting to manipulate smaller objects. If I give you something that has a zipper or a buckle, you'll sit and play with it for 20 minutes or so. This was actually a huge help when we flew to Philadelphia for Girls' Weekend--you played with your diaper changing station for a long time.

We're still working with you on a few things. You go down for naps really well, but your sleep at night isn't going all that well. You sleep 3-4 hours at a time. Occasionally you'll sleep for 5, but not often. You very consistently get up between 10 and 11pm. We're also working on eating solid foods. You do not like to eat off of a spoon!  You will clamp your lips together and refuse to open them! Thankfully, you will eat out of the food pouches, so we've been doing it that way, which helps.  You like apples, pears, carrots, sweet potatoes, spinach, mangoes, peaches, plums, and water. You DO NOT like squash, green beans, or peas. We'll keep working on it. :)

You are finally rolling over consistently. You can jet yourself around on the blanket--one day this week, I found you halfway under the couch!  You roll around like crazy in your crib, too. You often end up perpendicular to how I put you in the crib initially. Sometimes I'll hear you in the monitor with a frustrated cry and go in to your room to find you snuggled up against the solid side of your crib, unable to move.

You love to be outside. I have been taking you out for daily walks in your stroller, and you are content to ride along with me for an hour or more. Sometimes I am able to extend your awake time a little bit that way. Daylight Saving Time really messed up your bedtime routine--you used to go to bed at 7, but now we're pretty set at 6:30. Occasionally I can keep you up a little bit later, but usually you're pretty fussy.

Speaking of fussy, you really don't fuss very often anymore. You're growing and maturing so much. You really only fuss when you're ready for bed. Because you don't fuss often anymore, we really can take you just about anywhere. You're able to sit in high chairs, so we will take a few toys in the diaper bag, and you can sit in a restaurant with us and behave so nicely. You also do really well when you're with Daddy. You love him so much!

You're so chatty. You still sing yourself to sleep--usually in the car. You have the short a and short o sounds down pat. You use the consonants m, b, and d when you're talking. I swear you say maamaamaa when I'm around, and daadaadaa when Daddy is around, but he isn't convinced. Sunni thinks so, too!  You love blowing raspberries now, and when I blow them back at you, you giggle. You also sing along to the music that I play in the house or in the car. It's fun to watch you bounce on your butt to the music. There is one song in particular on Daddy's phone that makes you bounce, and it makes us laugh: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nloSwFDPJAY

You are super ticklish on your thighs and on your ribcage. I love making you giggle and bend over with laughter. Your smile and your laugh makes my heart sing. You giggle a few times, and then make an "aak" noise, and then squeal like a little piglet. It's so funny!  http://instagram.com/p/g9YAqmMqnn/  http://instagram.com/p/g-6YFjsqmE/

You love going to Baby Mamas group on Tuesday. Joshua, Ava, Fletcher and Wyatt have become such good friends. You and Joshua tend to tackle each other often.

Everyone talks about how cute you are, everywhere we go. I've got to work on making sure you say thank you, but stay humble about it. Hopefully people will recognize how smart you are, too! :)

You still don't show any signs of getting any teeth. You chew on everything, but you have since you figured out how to put stuff in your mouth, so I don't consider that a sign.

I love you more than you'll ever know, my chunky monkey, my little nugget.
Mommy :)