It’s crazy to believe that a mere six months ago we were still in the hospital introducing ourselves to our precious little Clare. When I look at pictures it’s hard to believe it’s the same baby – she was such a long skinny little thing. I called her my little bird baby and she kind of was, she sort of chirped and flapped like a skinny little bird. Now she’s round and chubby in the sweet little baby way, certainly makes more noises besides little chirps, and moves beyond little flaps. Gosh these little buggers grow up so fast!
Anyway, I digress. It’s been a good week around here. Mary, Clare’s amazing nanny, was out for the week with a family emergency so we figured out a schedule with me, J, my mom and a substitute sitter to watch Clare. While it took some juggling, we all enjoyed the extra time with her. I’ve been home with her on Thursday and Friday and I’m not really looking forward to going back to work tomorrow. Hmmmm, maybe there’s something to the stay-at-home-mom thing… (that sound you hear is J gulping – I’m just kidding Sweetie, mostly).
Our girl continues to be the most vocal 6-month-old I’ve ever met. Right now she’s playing on the floor and going “Blah blah blah.” It’s pretty funny. Jeremy says sometimes it sounds like we should be able to understand her since her intonation and rhythm are so much like English. No wonder since she loves to be talked and sung to. I’m expanding my repertoire – She’s Coming Round the Mountain and Baa Baa Black Sheep are current favorites. Suggestions are welcome, since I sing the same half a dozen songs several times a day.
She loves her exersaucer and has figured out that if she pushes a specific button music plays. She spent about 15 minutes this morning pushing it over and over and listening to the songs. Fortunately the song changes each time – otherwise we’d be pulling the batteries out. She’s still not QUITE rolling over but came thisclose to going from back to front this morning. She is starting to wiggle around more – Friday night J went into check on her after she went to sleep and saw that she had rotated 180 degrees from where he put her down. She’s very strong and holds herself up in push-ups all the time. She also sat up by herself for about 2 minutes yesterday without any support.
Speaking of bed – she has a new game. It’s called the Binky game and it’s where she spits her binky out instead of going down for a nap. She then pushes herself up on her arms and “cries” for us to come in. I figured it out by hiding behind the door and watching her do it – she spit the binky out, cried and then turned back toward the door to see if I was coming. Little Stinker! We’ll be figuring out a way to nip that in the bud soon.
Swimming continues to be fun and one of the highlights of the week. She enjoyed it a little more this week – talked and ‘growled’ a little more, cried a little less, etc. 
On a sad note, our kitty cat Prowler isn’t doing well. We’re working on a treatment plan but also facing the reality that it might not work. It’s casting a shadow over our house right now.