BD --
Today you turned six months old -- shouldn't you be out earning your keep now?
They say that as a parent, you need to enjoy every moment you have with your baby, because it goes by so quick. While that's very, very true and I have to remind myself of that on occasion, I have to say, I'm really, really glad that we got this month done and over with.
This was a hard month -- about as hard as when you got your surgery, if not a little harder because of the landslide of craziness. After Daddy went out of town for a business trip, we headed to Po Po's to stay for a few days. There, you ended up sleeping in bed with me at night, which was the equivalent of giving a smack addict a bag of pure H. Not good, especially when we came home and you had to go back into your crib. Which you protested about. Loudly. Frequently.
There's something rather bizarre about rocking your baby to sleep as you wear earplugs to dampen the screaming. You also began refusing to sleep in a normal pattern -- instead, you'd wake up in the middle of the night, demanding to be rocked for hours at a time.
Eventually, I just let you scream it out one night (which I know makes me a heartless mother, in some people's eyes). But you did sleep and when you woke up, you were upset, but it wasn't "HOW COULD YOU ABANDON ME?" but more like "I'M HUNGRY! DON'T CHANGE MY DIAPER! FEED ME WOMAN!"
So I know that you're pretty resilient.
Then you got the cold. Snot and drool everywhere. After that, an ear infection. And have I mentioned the constipation? I knew I was a mother when I was catching your poop (which had the consistency of Play-Doh) with one hand and trying to comfort you with the other. I knew something was wrong, because you'd lock your legs up and scream and cry in pain. It was heartbreaking. I hate seeing you in pain like that.
It's probably because you started solid food this month (apparently the transition can be difficult for babies). Oh, how you love solids! You lunge for the spoon and get mad at me if I'm not shoveling it in your mouth fast enough. You've also perfected the technique of spoon in mouth and then your hand goes over it to make sure the food stays in there. Which it doesn't. It goes all over your face, hands, Bumpo, eyelashes and arms. You're stained bright veggie colors and now, the color of prunes.
You my dear, now have a diet like an arthritic senior citizen --- mushy food and prunes. I find it funny.
You're also an observer -- you can spend easily a half-hour closely examining your toys, books and even my clothes. You're kind of shy around strangers, but after a few minutes, you warm up (it helps that either me or Daddy are close by to make you feel secure). You talk a lot and enjoy chewing on everything.
You've also gotten totally enamored with me -- when Daddy holds you, if I walk into the room, you want to be held by me. You giggle when we play together and you love grabbing my glasses. It's a lot of fun, but also very weird for me. I'm not used to being the center of someone's universe. But for your smiles, I'll be happy to do it.
I'll confess that for awhile, I was pretty down. Lack of sleep is hard on Mom and she gets meaner, sadder and more depressed at times. But then one day I decided to just enjoy the moment and play with your. And I have to say, that moment made me feel a lot better than I was feeling before. Thanks, kiddo.
Love,
Momma
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