This is what 6 months looks like

I literally cannot believe I've had this girl for half a year already.  Summer is so wonderful but it makes time fly even faster...and here I am with a six month old, who is nothing but delightful.






Here are some things to know about Elle:

She can crawl.
She can, on occasion, pull herself up to standing.
She weighs 18 pounds.
(which is four ounces lighter than her sister at ONE YEAR.)

*Mic drop*

Maybe that's the reason I can't believe I have a six month old...as new as she is, she behaves like a nine month old.  I feel like I got gipped on a few months of baby-ness.  But our little darling has a big sister to keep up with, and who am I to stand in her way?  Im her mother, that's who, and I'm not ready for the kind of intense supervision this development requires!  She's bright and alert, but she doesn't really understand "no no" yet, like an older baby might, and she likes to live on the edge, as evidenced by her obsession with trying to pull the lamp cord out of the wall and knocking over a block of butcher knives.  She's fast, too -- grabbing full glasses of water, knocking over plates of food, and watching her sit in her high chair or bumbo with toys on the tray is something to witness -- it only takes milliseconds for the toys to end up on the floor, a gallon of drool to soak the front of her shirt, and a glass of ice water to spill into my entree.  MILLISECONDS I TELL YOU.   She's busy.  She's strong.  She's lucky she's so sweet and cute.





Elle can wave "hi" and "bye-bye," and she started babbling the other day, I heard her first "bah bah bah" and it took my breath away.  It was so specific and intentional as compared to her loud "AHH!" that always shocks everyone in a four foot radius into paying attention to her (nice move kid).  She loves to play with toys, but she's been known to play with the box or bin the toys are supposed to be contained in, instead of the toys themselves.  Baby power lifter.  She's got the sweetest giggle, and she'll laugh her face off if you kiss her neck or her tummy.

This is when she told me tutus are Grace's thing.

I'm working on teaching her "Mama," but she might say "Dada" first, because she adores him.  It's so sweet to see her face light up when she hears his voice on the phone or when he walks in the door after work.  It's also such a relief to me, because when Grace was this age she had what I like to call a severe aversion to her dad.  But as much as Elle loves both Eric and me, her undisputed favorite person in the world is her big sister.  Since I was Grace's undisputed favorite person, this has been a bit of a blow to my ego, but watching them enjoy each other is my favorite thing in the world.  Grace is so patient and kind with Elle, Elle is so eager and engaged with Grace, I just hope this trend continues.  Yesterday Grace said, "you're my best friend, Ellie Bellie," and I got all choked up, but then Elle lunged toward the edge of the bed and I had to grab her by her very sturdy calf and that was the end of all the sweet feels and on to the scared feels.  Oh, Elle's other favorite person is Georgia, and she enjoys ripping out fistfuls of her fur, preferably around her ears, while I say, "gentle Elle, gentle" and she grins and me and giggles.  Georgia, you saint.  Thank you.
(Georgia does this very strange thing where she brings one or two kibbles from her dog dish and places them on the floor next to where Elle is sitting...I thought it was some sort of offering to her beloved child but now that I'm thinking about it it might be some sick plan to eliminate the competition.  Shrewd George. Shrewd.)

Here's the part of the blog post where I prove I'm raising them right:

You're welcome, Wisconsin.

Elle is a fairly good night time sleeper, usually up 2, sometimes 3, sometimes 11 times, during the night.  She does her first stretch in her crib, usually going to bed around 8:30 and sleeping for a solid 15 minutes, or maybe 4 hours.  Then she joins me and we snuggle together till the morning....I told myself at 6 months I was going to make a concerted effort to keep her in her crib throughout the night, but I just don't know if that's going to happen yet.  Look at her.  Plus I feel moderately well rested in the morning so why should I change anything?

This is her "I'll give you #$^&!*% jazz hands" face. 

We have this unfortunate habit in our household where our daughters need their mother to fall asleep, and while Elle does a great morning nap, she tends to wake up right before lunch and then is ready to rock and roll during Grace's nap.  It's a freaking three ring circus most days, Elle trying to rip books out of my hand, or if she's on the floor, head butting herself into Grace's bed frame. Grace finds it all hilarious and the whole process ramps her up beyond measure.  Then I end up exhausted from trying to wrangle a very mobile six month old (you can't play with lamps Elle!  Please stop chewing on that cord!  Lampshades are hot and dangerous!) while "snuggling" and "relaxing" with Grace (just ignore her. Don't laugh at her. Take a deep breath.  Do you think you could try falling asleep by yourself?  No chance, mom.) I would like you to try saying all of those phrases in succession and see how relaxed you feel afterwards.  The majority of the time naps fail and I and have two wide-awake bombastic children to deal with and if I catch a glimpse of myself in the mirror it's frightening.  The days when they nap together are like a five star vacation.  Anyway, that was a digression I didn't see coming.  May have some things to work through.  Stay tuned, my guess is you'll read about it soon.


Elle is into table food, and I'm amazed at how little I care what she eats compared to how I introduced solid foods to Grace.  Is it mashable?  Not too sugary or salty?  Give it a go!  (Is it fit for a human, GEORGIA? I'm on to you.)  She can drink from a sippy cup pretty much by herself and she can almost get a puff into her mouth without any help.  She loves being part of the process of dining, sitting in her high chair, proud as a peacock, whipping things to the floor left and right, pouring water on her tray and screaming when I don't get a bite into her mouth fast enough.  I have these visions of a lovely family meal, the four of us seated together around the table, laughing and chatting, eating healthy things, candles glowing softly in the background...the reality is 45 minutes of sheer chaos with Eric and I looking at each other mildly shocked and slightly sweaty.  We usually drink wine.

I really wanted to write a cute little ending to this post about how adorable Elle is and how my mom calls her the perfect baby but she's currently chewing on the computer power cord and Grace is trying to balance on a ball so I gotta run.  Like I said before, chaos...but I wouldn't trade it for anything.