Today is a special day in our house, not just because it’s summer solstice, but because that marks Mariah’s “1/2 birthday” at 6 months old. Her development has seemed exponential over these last three months. She feels much less like a passive newborn these days and much more like an active baby, full of personality and character.
Soon after she turned three months old, Mariah began trying a crunch motion like she was trying to sit up. At that point, her rolling took a lot of energy and focus – she would slowly roll from tummy to back or vice versa and then stay there a while. We discovered that one of her quirks is to rub her feet together often, looking like she’s trying to start a fire with them! My favourite part of her three month development was that she started giggling. She has a cute little squeaky chuckle that usually emerges when she’s playing with her daddy. The funny thing is – I had heard her giggle in her sleep from the time she was about a month old but somehow it took her longer to learn how to do it awake. She also went on her first plane ride to Ontario at three months and was a wonderful flyer. I think she liked the white noise since she managed to sleep the whole way there and back. She was showered with attention from our families there and didn’t seem to mind being away from home.
At four months, Mariah had plenty of practice with rolling in both directions. It no longer appeared forced, but gradually became more fluid and frequent. She began the common baby hobby of sucking on her toes whenever they were in reach. She suddenly switched from being oblivious around food to being very interested in it. She would grab at our plates during mealtimes and we started to give her tastes of a few fruits like bananas, apples, and even mangoes. Mariah and I started enjoying long walks almost daily. She usually spends a few minutes enjoying the scenery and then falls asleep with the breeze and sounds of nature. Unfortunately for Ivan and I, 4 months was when Mariah went from being a good sleeper to a terrible sleeper. Whereas she used to feed every 3 hours and sleep solidly in between for her first three months, she started having lots of trouble staying asleep around 4 months. From that time until now, she’s become pretty restless at night – tossing and turning, wanting to feed every hour or two just to help her get back to sleep. Apparently it’s quite common at this age due to teething so I have my fingers crossed that it’s just a stage!
At five months, Mariah started to ‘talk’ less and yell more. She fell in love with the jolly jumper and tends to shout happily when she’s in that. However, she also started growling and grunting lots when she doesn’t get her way. Around five and a half months she started attempts at crawling. She gets up on all fours, rocks her body back and forth but then isn’t quite sure what to do next so she usually collapses in defeat and whines. She’s very persistent and tries this all day long – each time with more skill than the last. We cheer her on and keep thinking she’ll start crawling any minute, but since she’s 2 months ahead of the average schedule…I suppose she can take her time. Even though she’s not on the move quite yet, she already seems hard to keep up with. She likes playing with her toys but has a very short attention span and quickly moves from one to the next…and then to boredom. I try my best to entertain her with books and cuddles, and the occasional t.v. show…but I usually run out of ideas by about 11am! One solution has been a daily mother daughter bubble bath that we both thoroughly enjoy – it’s the highlight of my day (and I’d like to think hers too). She loves water so much that we took her swimming a couple of times. I think it is more confusing than fun to her at this point since she just stares at us wondering why we’re in the world’s biggest bathtub.
Today’s 6 month mark is a bittersweet one for me. In a way, I'm glad that I survived the chaos of motherhood until summer. But on the other hand, I realize her development is soaring at the speed of light and that she’ll be a year before I have a chance to blink. I’m trying hard to stay mindful and in the moment so that I can enjoy all of her precious moments. Hopefully this blog will continue to help me keep centered and strike a balance between managing the many demands of motherhood while enjoying all it has to offer.
