In the first 6 months of life, Kayla has grown up so fast.   Milestone after milestone she’s mastered and we’ve been so excited with each one.  Afterwards, we’re usually scared at the repercussions for this new found ability, or we get tired of it real quick.  I still have to hide all electronic devices from her.  If she sees something like the remote, but I hold her so she can’t get to it, she reaches and whines at me until it’s out of sight.  Here I thought it was such a great thing when she started to bat at things and reach for toys too.  Oy.

“What’s all THIS stuff?”

Now, at 8 months of age, she’s hit some major milestones after that 6 month marker that have us cheering and sobbing all at once.   First, she was able to stay sitting up right before 6 months.   We’d have to sit her up ourselves, but it was great for pictures so we had to qualms with this skill.  It wasn’t long after that though that she learned the mechanics of getting into the sitting position by herself.  That one we had some difficulties with.  Do you know how HARD it is to change a diaper when all she wants to do is practice?  All the wonderful handy items at the end of her changing table now became toys for her to reach for, or just to keep her occupied so she’d LAY STILL DANG IT! 

“As soon as she’s not looking… “

Next, she gradually made her way to do some sort of crawl.  It was kind of an army crawl but that left arm just wouldn’t get out of the way some times so she’d do some odd baby circles until she just rolled over and looked at us expectantly.  It was a mix of rolls, army crawls and moving to the sitting position. (I assume it was for a better look at where she was trying to go.)  Never the less, let’s just say she didn’t get far.  (It’s hard to go anywhere when you can’t even go in a straight line. ) Typically we’d sit her down and coax her into learning to crawl and ending up with a stitch in our side from laughing.  I’m sorry Kayla, but hey, your daddy didn’t even crawl so your already smarter then he was at your age. 

Where you goin’?  Nowhere!

Since that first tooth poked out and made itself known it opened the door to a whole new realm of possibilities with food.  I’d GLADLY take a break, so getting her to eat solids was a fun daydream I had of where I was off in some nice spa getting a massage, while Marshall was getting pureed peas flung at him.  Then of course we realized this was MY child and she’d rather feed herself.  Too bad letting her get it on her index finger and draw on her highchair table didn’t solve her hunger so my dream (for now) vanished in a puff of smoke.  Then I started to notice how she’d just start swallowing (and making an odd sound that sorta freaked me out) randomly.  After she kept doing it, I got the idea of getting her some fingers foods designed to melt in baby’s mouth.  First up:  Biter biscuits!  Hey, she had teeth right?  Well, she’d bite it into too big of a piece and she’d end up choking a bit then spitting it back out, so a no go on those.  I still had more choices though!  Next we tried the “melt in your mouth” puff stars that had a wide variety of flavors.  She’d get one in her pincer grasp (Hey another milestone!) but once she got in her mouth, she’d have a hard time getting it to un-stick from her own slobbery finger, and it would come right back out when she pulled her hand out of her mouth.  Then came the cheese crunchies.  Small enough not to choke, big enough that she could get a handle on the thing and Mmmmm tasty!  Her favorite snack was basically baby Cheetos, but hey, at least she was feeding herself something!  Now we’ve progressed and we can give her small bits of our own food and my dream is slowly coming back.. only now Marshall is dealing with scattered Cheetos.  Not as fun considering the dogs love the things and would gladly help with the “clean up”. 

“Mmmm Cheeto…”

Even after all these milestones she still has more to go.  On June 22nd I sat her in her crib with nothing but a diaper on while I went to grab a onesie for her to wear.  As I rounded the corner to return to her room, onesie in hand, I gasped and jolted at my daughters face peering back at me from over the crib railing where she was STANDING.  As soon as she saw me, she started to laugh and giggle, obviously thinking it’s just as fun to scare me as her daddy does.  Now, she could stand before this, but it had always been using one of our hands as the support to pull herself up.  Finding her standing there waiting for my return, was a reality check on how soon she’d be MOBILE.  Especially after we’d put one of our iPhones playing “Lady Bug Picnic” at the opposite side of the crib and watch she support herself and slowly make her way over to it.  We realized we were in trouble.  Didn’t stop us from taking pictures and videos though! 

“I did it!”

Lastly, on the 30th of June, while Marshall was away on business, Kayla had her hands on my leg and I watched her slowly shuffle her knees closer to me in a crawling motion.  I immediately paused and relayed this information to my wayward hubby, who demanded immediate proof of any crawling ability.  (It’s almost like he didn’t trust me…)  I placed Kayla back a few spaces, turned on “Lady Bug Picnic” and took a choppy video of her CRAWLING to get it.  At first it was only a foot at a time.  She’d crawl to get to a toy that moved just a bit too far from her, then it was to the couch, where she’d pull herself up and grab the remote from off the couch where I thought she wouldn’t be able to get it.    Now she’s following me out of the room, chasing the dogs and getting into all sorts of things.  Basically she’s exploring her world while she has us, her parents, having a mental breakdown.  Ah, parenthood.  Why did we want to do this again?