Six Months!

Wow.

Maggie continues to be an incredibly delightful baby.  She was under the weather over the weekend.  I diagnosed it as roseola and just kept her comfy, fed her whenever she wanted to eat (as briefly as she wanted), and let her nap the days away.  For the first time since she was itty bitty, she woke up crying twice so it was quite obvious that she wasn't feeling well.  Poor baby.  It came and went rather quickly, though, and she's already back to her smiley self.  I'm still waiting for her eating and sleeping habits to return to normal- she gets up around 2:30 am to nurse for 5-10 minutes, and she refuses to nurse for more than 5 minutes at any one time during the day.  I suspect the nighttime feeding is necessary since she's not eating much during the day, but I'm not sure how to "fix" the situation so we can go back to sleeping through the night.  I'm kind of hoping she's responding to the summer heat and will adjust once cooler weather sets in (please let that be soonish!).

The big accomplishment this month is SITTING.  She first sat, relatively unsupported, on Tuesday, 8/7.  We were on the floor at Charlotte's music class, with Maggie  wedged between my knees but holding herself up for 3-5 minutes at a stretch, repeatedly.  By the following Tuesday, she was able to sit with essentially no help at all for more than 10 minutes.  With a little experimentation, I found out that when she's tired, she collapses forward after a few minutes.  When she's playful and wants to get down and roll around on her own, she falls backwards or to the side/back.  She looks so proud of herself when she's sitting.  I have photos and will try to share them soon (I left the camera in her room and I am NOT risking waking her up to retrieve it).

Do I need to mention that rolling over is old hat by now?  She figured out that rolling is a form of locomotion, and covers every square inch of her crib before falling asleep.  She especially loves knocking over the monitor which we leave propped on a pillow outside one end of her crib.  She pokes at the glowing green light, and down it goes.

Maggie enjoys cereal on a daily basis now, and has tried carrots, sweet potatoes, peas, and winter squash.  She loves everything except the peas which made her shudder and gag, reminiscent of Charlotte's reaction to them.  She tries to grab everything to put it into her mouth- and I mean everything.  Two fingers on her right hand are almost always between her gums these days, even more so than just a few weeks ago.  I suspect we're in the very early stages of teething since she doesn't just suck on fingers.  She gnaws on them.  Aggressively.  I'm surprised she hasn't hurt herself.

Maggie still adores Charlotte and can't take her eyes off her big sister.  That, too, is likely contributing to her brief nursing sessions during the day.  I don't want to sit Charlotte in front of the TV every time I need to feed Maggie, so we're stuck all being in the same room at Maggie's mealtimes.  Charlotte is incapable of sitting still, or of being silent, so Maggie is perpetually distracted.  I don't fault either of the girls- that's just the way it is with a toddler and her adoring baby sister.

The pediatrician is on vacation so no 6-month appointment yet.  In fact, she'll be 7 months old when we finally see him again.  Fine with me- she is due for some shots and I'm in no hurry to get them.  I have no idea how much she weighs or how tall she is, but she has definitely grown.  We can no longer squeeze her into 6-month sleep-n-plays; she's just too long for them.  Separates in the 6-month size do still fit, so we're making it through the summer without having to supplement her wardrobe- hurray!  Size 3 diapers still fit, but where the tabs used to meet on her belly there's now a gap of about three-quarters of an inch.

Maggie has mastered the exersaucer- she stands fully upright in it (proudly, I must add), bounces, spins around, pokes at buttons that light up and make noise, and deftly maneuvers toys into her mouth. She loves dancing in the doorway jumper (when Charlotte lets her have a turn), and doesn't mind playing in the pack-n-play as long as someone is within sight of her.  When Charlotte is napping and Maggie and I get some one-on-one time, I let her sit in Charlotte's highchair and bang on the tray.  Apparently, that's a lot of fun.  She can't pick up a Cheerio yet, but that's good because she's not ready to eat them.  She does like gumming Num-Nums and teething biscuits into gooey oblivion and smearing the remains all over her face and hair.  She still enjoys her sippy cup very very much, filled only with water since I plan to wait until she's about a year old before introducing watered-down juice.

Maggie hasn't quite settled into a truly solid routine.  Some days, she naps 3 times.  Most days, twice.  She sleeps through the night (now that the roseola is gone... this post was completed on 8/21) most nights, going to bed around 7 and waking up at 5-ish for a quick meal and nap before really getting up for the day.  She only cries or fusses when she's very overtired, like after my parents babysit and my father refuses to put her in her crib because he wants to hold her all the time.  She lets out a little whimper whenever we walk into her room, but she doesn't object to going to bed so I'm not sure what the whimper is for.

When we're out and about, Maggie is content to sit in her car seat and watch everything happening around her.  She does get upset if everyone exits her line of sight, especially if Charlotte and I both disappear, but as long as she can see us she's happy to watch and entertain herself with whatever toys are in her lap.  She likes to play pat-a-cake and peek-a-boo, and thinks sneezes are hilarious.

All in all, things are fantastic.  We're busy and always falling behind on dishes and laundry, but Maggie is a happy baby, learning something new all the time, so I think we're doing OK.