Happy Six Month Birthday, Baby Girl!

"A very happy half birthday, to you! (To you!) To you! (To you!)

A very happy half birthday, to you! To you!"

I can't believe it's been half a year already.  In some ways it's still unreal that I'm a mother and have a baby and in other ways it's like Evelynd's always been part of our lives and how did we ever exist without her?  How boring!

She has her six-month checkup (and shots) next Friday, so we'll have all her official stats then.  For now, I'll just tell you what's new:

Evelynd is starting to play with her toys more.  She likes to make her keys rattle, snuggle with her lamb and bunny in bed, and play with anything that makes noise (like her cookie jar, the piano, and her car seat toys). 

She's amazing at falling asleep at 8:00 p.m. every night and sleeping generally eight hours.  I feed her around 4:00 a.m. and she will either go straight back to sleep or play in crib by herself until she puts herself to sleep.  We usually get up sometime between 7 and 8 in the morning.  She will take a nap about two hours after she wakes up and then again in the mid-afternoon.  Her nap times and lengths are pretty unpredictable. 

Evie loves the dogs.  She watches for them and looks around for them if I ask her where they are.  She's still working on petting them instead of yanking their hair. 

She's now eating two meals a day of fruits, veggies, rice cereal, or combos.  She opens up her mouth wide and clears the food off the spoon with her lip.  She's a fast eater like her dad, which means she probably won't be eating alone at the table like her mom.  She's not too keen on carrots, but has liked everything else a lot.  Today, for example, she downed her mango lunch and butternut squash-pear dinner in no time.

She sits up pretty well.  Occasionally she still tips over, but not if she's paying attention. 

She is almost always happy and smiles at all strangers (just as long as they don't try to hold her).

Evelynd still likes walks and being outside is an almost instant stop to her fussing.  I take her on at least one walk per day.

She has started to figure out how to make her walker go forwards and backwards.

Everything ends up in her mouth.

To celebrate today, Evelynd had to wait until after all our meetings, lessons, and work, but then we had fun.  Here's a video of her on the way to her party:

Our first stop was Salem's Carousel, where Evelynd took a ride on "The General."  She liked watching the horses move up and down.

Then, we went on the swings and teeter-totter at Bush Park.

The Crooked House playground was very busy this evening although I somehow got a picture that looks like we were some of the few people there.

She was watching the big kids swing and run around.

Here's a video of Miss E enjoying her swing:

When we came home, we ate, played, jumped in the jumperoo, read stories, sang songs, and Evelynd went to sleep at exactly 8:00 again.  Dassow Mommy and Daddy had caramel corn in Evie's honor.

P.S. Red Sox won one for the baby!