6 months

Well, I’m not quite sure how it happened so quickly, but our little lady has turned 6 months old.  Amazing.  Hmm, let me think about what April’s latest “tricks” are.  She continues to be on “auto-roll” so she is mobile even though she isn’t crawling or walking yet.  She is becoming quite the scooter and if you put a toy in front of her, her effort to get that toy results in backward scooting (She gets this from Aunt Jill).  She likes to push up onto her hands and knees and rock which makes me think that crawling may not be too far away.  Standing (with help of course) is a favorite activity and sometimes she’ll sit on her own, but not for very long.

Be careful what you’re holding, because April grabs at everything right now.  She likes to watch her hand open and close, as if amazed that she can control it.  She is very much into exploring things with her hands as well as her mouth.  I’ve seen her actually try to move just her lips to try to get an object.  Everything her hands grab ends up in her mouth, but I’m pretty sure this is not due to teething – just exploring.

She is very vocal already.  Mike and I are regularly making the comment, “Who let a cat in?” because that is what she sounds like.  Not a quiet, purring cat, but one that is in a fight or howling.  She is loud and quite the talker.  Random babbling and “dadadadad” and “ma-ma” or “mum mum mum” are regular sounds we hear.  I know she is not really talking yet, but one time in particular it seemed so intentional:  I had just finished nursing her and she was leaning the side of her head against my chest.  It was just us and totally silent and the only sound she made was, “ma-ma.”  It was so sweet.

She also laughs.  It doesn’t happen a ton yet, so it’s special when it does.  Abe is usually the best at getting one.  Smiles, however, are a dime a dozen.  Anyone who coos at her gets an instant grin and it’s funny to see people melt – “She smiled at me!”  I don’t have the heart to tell them that she smiles at everyone.  The whole-body-smiles are our favorite; these usually come when we show up to get her out of her crib.

We continue to maintain that she is the easiest baby ever.