Merry Christmas

Emily has been enjoying her first Christmas.  She likes all the presents, right?  No, of course not.  Rather, she loves chewing on all the wrapping paper.  She is pretty much oblivious to what has been going on, but of course, all the lights around the house and the fire in the fireplace have been interesting to her.  In the picture above, Emily is all dressed up in her Santa outfit.  This was taken when we were waiting for Abbie's Christmas performance at school to start.  It was Emily's nap time, and I thought that she would fall asleep in the Bjorn during the show, but she was too interested in looking at everything that was going on.  Fortunately, though, this did not lead to a subsequent meltdown.

Contrary to most of the pictures that we have of Emily, she really would rather be upside down.  Stretched across someone's lap, staring around the room is her preferred position often times.  I have no idea why.  Perhaps she likes to stretch her back or her tummy, perhaps she likes the ceiling lights, perhaps she just likes to be a contrarian.  Who knows.  Anyway, I think it is pretty funny.

Sweet Potato

In addition to her rice cereal, we have tried feeding Emily applesauce, pears, and carrots but nothing has clicked for her.  At last, however, we have finally found something that she seems to like - sweet potatoes!  In retrospect, this makes perfect sense - an Irish/German baby likes potatoes.  Not much of a surprise there.

Emily's talking has gotten very interesting lately.  No googoos and gagas for her.  Rather, our little wild woman likes to growl.  When she is content she can often be found chewing on her hand or her bib or just about anything else that comes within her reach, and growling at the same time.  Pretty funny.

As you can see above, Emily's big sister likes to pick her up and hold her.  Emily adores her big sister and is usually pretty good about it.  Although, yesterday I had laid Emily on Abbie's bed and I was getting clothes out of Abbie's dresser.  All of the sudden, I looked over at the bed and Emily was hanging half way off.  "What is going on here?" I asked.  Abbie said, "Oh, I was picking her up."  Yikes!  My poor baby could have been pulled right off the bed, and I didn't even notice.  Funny how being in the same room just isn't enough sometimes.

Six Month Check-up

Today was Emily's six month check up.  Here are the new stats: 14 pounds, 6.4 ounces (21st percentile), 25 inches (25th percentile), and head circumference of 42 cm (38th percentile).  As I recall, her weight percentile has fallen a bit, her length percentile is roughly holding steady, and her head percentile has increased.  Basically she is just a little less chubby than she was last time.

Developmentally, she is going great.  She isn't a big fan of sitting, but I did get her to sit on her own without falling over for at least a minute this morning.  I guess the doctor defines anything more than a few seconds as officially sitting, so apparently she is officially sitting.  However, it will be awhile yet before we can just leave her sitting in the living room on her own.  She really likes to topple over.  Actually, her preference is to stand and many times she will insist on standing rather than sitting.  Of course, obviously she can't stand on her own, but her little legs are definitely pretty strong.  The pictures above really sum it up - the uninspired look on her face when sitting and the pleased look on her face when standing.

Right now the little peanut is napping, totally worn out from having to get four shots and an oral vaccine.  No fun at all.  I'm bracing myself for a rough couple of days.  As for solid food, Emily is still getting her rice cereal in the evenings.  We have tried to introduce some applesauce and some pears, but she really wasn't a big fan of either one.  So, for now, we are just sticking with the cereal.

Other than that, not much to report.  As long as she gets her way, she is a very easy and happy baby.  She really likes to laugh and be tickled.  Also, she has been trying out some new mannerisms lately.  The funniest one is when she just starts shaking her head 'No'.  I think she does it when she wants to get our attention and get us to play with her.  The doctor claims that it is a pretty common baby thing.  Also, she really likes going for walks in the Bjorn.  As soon as she sees it she gets all excited.  I think that part of it is that she enjoys being outside.  The weather has been pretty nice lately, so it has been pretty easy to get her some fresh air everyday.