Almost 6 months old!

Dear Poppy,

You will be 6 months old in just under 3 days. 6 months old! How did that happen? How did we allow that to happen? I shall try to log some of your mile-stones here:

In the Canary Islands, you were about 4 months old and you started holding toys in your hand and inspecting them from every angle with utmost fascination. You would then drop the toy and stare at your hand and your fingers twirling them around. Daddy wonders if you are going to become a diamond/jewel expert.

Much to your daddy's delight, you gave us a glimpse of your first full throttle, absolutely adorable little laugh. He was making chimp sounds and to me they sounded scary but clearly, not to you. On the contrary, you loved it. For days after that mummy was reminded over and over again that daddy is the one who finally succeeded in getting that absolute gem of a laugh out of you.

The link is on: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T4qnbcAYuRo

In Bali, at 4.5 months, you started experimenting with your vocal cords on a completely different level. Your first complex bisyllabic sound was Ynggggggaaa. After all, you are a true Norwegain baby. Not ma ma, da da, ba ba for you. You had to go for the compex Norwegian sounding words, hey? Aunt Y will be most pleased..

In India, at 5 months, you started to roll over. The first time you did it in one shot. You then spent the next 2 days, trying to recreate the success, to no avail. You were so annoyed. And even when you managed to roll over, your arm would be stuck underneath your body. Arrgghhh. We would have to come to your rescue before you went mad with frustration. Over the next few days, you mastered the skill. One quick movement and there you were on your tummy. But then came the problem. You do not like being on your tummy. And you had not yet learned how to roll back. Oh dear!  So basically, you went through all that trouble over and over, only to land in a position that you most dislike.. Hmmmm. It meant that every 2 minutes, we had to rescue you. And this happened many many many times a day. Not very clever sometimes, are we?

Back in London at 5.5 months, the health visitor told us that you were ready for solids. Mummy thought it would be at 6 months and hence had not done all the reading and all the preparation it takes to start a baby on pureed banana/pear/apple or ready made rice cereal. The all important  books were still on their way from Amazon. Crisis! Thanks to mum's NCT friends, she got a crash course in what to do and what not to and lo and behold, you had your first rice porridge and could not have enough of it.

 You were a natural. You did not like eating in your high chair though and preferred the swing. 2 days later, similar success with banana. However, just when mummy was getting very smug and boasting about what an easy baby you were, you decided to put a spanner in the works. On day 4 in the morning, you took in a few spoonfulls of rice porridge. Only after a little time did mummy realise that you were pooling it all under your tongue and it was almost like you did not know what to do with it.. For about 10 minutes, you sat there with your mouth open, and white gooey stuff oozing from your mouth but you would not swallow! Finally I had to use a spoon and scoop it all back from inside your mouth. Similar story with pear puree later the same day. The following day, back to being a natural. You want to keep me on my toes, I get it, Poppy.

And 1 week short of your 6 month birthday, you have started sitting up by yourself. You do look a little drunk and sway from side to side and need to be closely monitored, but there you are. Its a whole new world with endless possibilities.

Today you with 4 of your other friends have your first photoshoot at your favourite place, the babyspa! The photo will be used to advertise the spa. We are hoping that we can soon find you an agent and resign from our present jobs.

And to end the proud rantings of a smitten mum, in 2 weeks, you start your first real swimming lessons. No floating device at this one. And mummy gets to be in the pool with you.What fun. Cannot wait!

Lots of love

Mummy