Today Beatrice is half a year old! This month she has hit a few developmental milestones here and there but the real change is just in her constantly evolving personhood. Compared to six months ago (or even one month ago) she is just so much more of an individual now, with the rudiments of a distinct personality. Whereas once her face mostly registered only happy/neutral or unhappy/crying, she now has a range of real, recognizable emotions, including boredom, amusement, frustration, delight, curiousity, and suspicion.
The highlight of the month was the baby's first Thanksgiving and her chance to finally meet her uncles Travis and Aubrey and many other friends. Beatrice and I also took a week-long vacation to the Bay Area to visit the Blocks while Dev was out of town on a business trip.
This month we also ventured out to a baby sensory learning group (don't ask) but Beatrice adored all the chaotic, noisy activity. At one point Beatrice was simultaneously bombarded with recorded music, live drumming, hand-held percussion instruments, and ribbon dancing, and she seemed to enjoy it all. The class leader declared she had never met a baby who was so hard to unnerve. That will come in handy.Beatrice continues to add new foods every week - fruits, vegetables, and meats - and so far she loves them all uniformly. In fact, dinner time is now the highlight of her day.
Beatrice continues to try out new vocalizations - most of them sound like the typical consonant-vowel pairings of baby babble, but her neatest trick is the bird-like trilling she has taken to making.
She also loves petting (ie., grabbing) Shackelton, Cromwell, and Odin.
She is also working on crawling - she can scoot efficiently across the entire length of a room. But only backwards. If you place a desired toy in front of her, she will work with all her might to reach it while slowly receding from it. Like so many things involving babies, it's both sad and incredibly funny. (Video coming soon!)
Find more Beatrice month six photos on Flickr and Facebook.
