We're regular patrons at our grocery store, and all the cashiers and workers know our family. Recently, Jo has started sitting up in the front of the cart. She loves it and spends our grocery trips smiling and cooing at everyone. Today, the cashier I see most often commented on how quickly she's gone from being a little baby to a kid. It's true!
Although she's in the midst of this stage where no one can hold her but me when I'm in eyesight, she's otherwise a very, very happy little girl. She's easy going, loves to smile, and loves to babble. She sits up very well now and rarely falls over, but once she gets tired, she hurls herself to the floor. So, I still can't just plop her down without giving her lots of supervision.
She stands well when I support her armpits, steady her waist, or hold her hands. I actually haven't been cultivating this skill of hers too much because neither Andrew nor I want to deal with the exhaustion of having an early walker. Plus, we've heard babies do better when they learn to crawl first. No skipping stages, Jo!
Joanna rolls over all the time from front to back. She enjoys the game and cracks up as I roll her onto her stomach, and she pushes back again. She still doesn't roll from back to stomach much at all. I can probably count how many times she's done that on one hand. She'll get there.
Happily, Jo is sleeping much better at night. She only gets up once to eat and get a diaper change. Sometimes, she'll fuss at other parts of the night, but she puts herself back to sleep at those times.
She loves food. She loves to closely watch everyone eat. If you let your guard down, she'll try to swipe your food. She's good at that, too! Her favorite food is jarred lentil dinner, which is made from lentils, brown rice, carrots, and applesauce. She makes faces at the food I make. She doesn't like the sweet potatoes I make, and she doesn't even like mashed bananas--even when I puree them smooth with strawberries! I've actually decided that she's not a big fan of fruit in general because I tried the jarred fruit (plums and pears) to see if she'd like the stuff better. Nope! Joanna likes jarred lentil dinner, jarred green beans, and jarred peas. Over the last few days, I've tried giving her very tiny pieces of food. I've given her minced bananas rolled in baby oat cereal. She couldn't eat it until I smashed it thin for her, but then she didn't like it. She liked minced strawberries but gagged once, so I stopped giving them to her. I've been trying to work up the courage to give her Cheerio halves, but I haven't gotten that brave yet.
At six months old, here is a list of Joanna's likes and dislikes:
Likes
*Being held by Mom
*Watching Oliver do things, especially throw things
*Sucking her toes
*Exploring new objects and toys
*Watching people eat
*Getting her belly tickled
*Sitting on the side of the tub and kicking her feet to splash with Oliver during his baths
*Grass
Dislikes
*Being held by anyone else but Mom if Mom is available
*Getting strapped into the car seat
