Half-birthday

Last summer, as I was trying to rock my baby bump in record high temperatures, we started looking for daycare for our unborn child.

Seriously. For January 2012.

It was the weirdest thing, although necessary in this city, to try to choose people to look after my kid when I didn't even know who he or she was. Hell, I didn't even know how to look after him or her yet!!

But today SHE is six months old. Already. Her first half-birthday. And I think I know her pretty well:

- She rarely wakes up crying and is super happy to see us first thing in the morning. When I sit down beside her crib and look in at her, the smile she rewards me with is incredible. It makes the fact that it's 6 A.M. a teeny bit more bearable.

- She loves her change pad! Not sure if it's the poppies on the wall beside it or the black and white art pictures above it, but she's always smiley and kicky when we put her down to change her diaper.



- She's already talkative, despite the fact that she doesn't have any words yet. She enjoys talking through her stories, at the movies and if no one is paying attention to her. She'll also have babble conversations with us. Her new favourite sound involves a gurgling noise in her throat that is nearly impossible to imitate.

- If reincarnation exists, she was a serious foodie in her past life and can't wait to get past all these mushy, pureed meals. She hasn't given us any problems with any of the food we've offered her, but she shows little to no delight in the process of eating. She just wants us to keep shoveling it in while she stares longingly at every bite we put in our own mouths.



- She loves music! I can distract her from crying if I sing to her and she takes great delight if we sing and dance around like idiots for her. I'm looking forward to her joining us before too long.

- This kid needs her naps. She's cranky without them. So every two hours, almost like clockwork, she shows us the signs and we hustle to put her to bed.



- So far, she's really enjoying storytime. I'm crossing my fingers that our love of books will be passed on to her.

- Don't cuddle this kid too long! She's independent and would rather lay on her own than sit on your lap. But she still wants us to play with her and adores zerberts and airplane rides.

- A dirty diaper doesn't bother her one bit, so we need to keep checking for any... events. (Although now we can smell them much better now that solid food is involved!)



- Motion of any sort puts her right out, so car trips and walks in the stroller are a breeze.

- She's super bendy. Like, she arches her back and almost touches her head to her bum. We're thinking of selling her to the circus if she steps out of line.

- One of her many nicknames is Sock Houdini, because she will get at least one sock off within seconds of us putting it on. Thank goodness it's summer, so she can just go barefoot for a while.

- Jolly Jumper = Happy Vivi