Six Months Old!

Today is Carolyn's very first Half Birthday. I would have to say that the last six months have been the fastest of my life. The days (and nights) sometimes seem to go by slowly, but what an amazing change just six months has brought to our little girl.
She loves her feet- seems happiest when she is holding on to one or both of them- and the closer to naked she is, the happier she is! When lying on her back, she often raises her feet high into the air and then crashes them down on the ground- she finds this especially fun in the bathtub. :)
One of the things I love best about Carolyn is her pure, unadulterated joy. When she's happy, she just exudes such light and life and happiness- she laughs and smiles with complete abandon and inspires to me to do the same as I delight in her.
Carolyn's biggest motor skill accomplishment this month has been learning to sit up by herself. She started doing it about two weeks ago and now she can't seem to get enough of it- she has been gaining strength and stability daily and seems to really enjoy this new perspective on the world.
We're still not a big fan of Tummy Time- it's quite frustrating to be on one's tummy with nowhere to go since she hasn't quite figured out how to maneuver herself from one place to another- though no doubt, this is coming soon. She has grown quite strong and will soon be dragging herself from one side of the room to the other.
Last week we started introducing cereal as part of the daily meal routine. Each evening along with her milk, she gets a tablespoon or two of cereal- we tried rice first, now we're on to oatmeal. Carolyn seems to really enjoy the new tastes and textures and eating like a big girl. It was hard for me to let her go so she could take this step toward independence, but it sure is fun to watch her enjoy and experience new things.

One thing I cannot capture for you in pictures is the vast array of sounds that now fill our house. Carolyn is constantly experimenting with different noises and her chatter is one of my favorite things about this "stage." She seems to choose a particular sound and practice it over and over. This week, it's been a sort of hissing sound. I think she's enjoying using her tongue to push on her new tooth that is making its way through the gum- and she likes the sound she makes this way. Tooth #2 is on its way- and then maybe we'll have a little reprieve from teething for awhile. :)

In other news, Carolyn slept all the way through the night for the first time in more than two months on Thursday night. She had a tough time over the holidays, but we've returned to a strict sleeping and eating schedule since we've been home and it is to be hoped that this, along with some "tough love" when she wakens in the night, will help her stabilize and begin to make night sleeping a regular occurrence. Although she did wake up several times last night, on our visits to comfort her and let her know that we were there, we helped her learn to find her pacifier on her own and she was able on several occasions last night (and with no assistance at all this afternoon during naptime) to find the pacifier, put it in her mouth the correct way, and put herself back to sleep. She is learning! I'm hopeful that this necessary period of "sleep training" will be short and as comfortable as possible for us all.