6 Month Milestone

Astrid is 6 months old today. (Hence the virtual 1/2 birthday cake.) She's growing up so fast and learning new things everyday.

Astrid now reaches out and grabs toys that are out of her reach, and moves objects from one hand to the other, exploring with her hands. Her favorite thing to do now is to beat a toy against an object and then drop it on the floor (and wait for Mommy or Daddy to retrieve it for her). Her world is becoming more interesting (and mine a good deal messier).

The jury is still out if she's left or right handed. It seems her left hand is stronger than her right, as she can hold onto objects tighter with her left hand. We play a game of tug of war which she loves and I can see that she favors her left hand for this. But she still uses her right hand to reach out and grab things. Researchers say we won't know for sure if she's a lefty or righty until she's about 2 or 3 years old.

Here she is playing with/chewing on a plastic water bottle.

She can also now roll over in each direction and can roll back over onto her back from her stomach and vice versa. This means she can entertain herself for longer periods of time on her mat and is becoming a bit more self reliant. It also means that I need to keep an eye on her to make sure she doesn't get into mischief and get a hold of things she shouldn't. I also can't leave her on an elevated surface any longer because of the danger of her rolling over and falling.

Another new development is that Astrid has shown some instances of stranger anxiety and can discriminate between strangers and family/friends. If approached by a stranger or in a new situation Astrid looks to me for reassurance. But if you approach her with a high pitched funny voice and funny face she becomes your instant friend. The painter that was here for 2 days fell in love with Astrid and was always engaging her with a funny face and voice. While I was holding her Astrid kept reaching out to touch the painter. She reaches out to touch me and her dad all the time, but this was the first time she did that to a stranger.

Astrid's also picking up on things just by watching and listening to us. Like the sound of a cough that she made after hearing Uwe cough and copying the sound. I've also notice Astrid watches me intently when I'm eating. Yesterday while I was eating a sandwich, she didn't take her eyes off me or my plate. I held a bite of my sandwich up to her mouth and she opened her mouth like she wanted to eat it. I called Uwe over to show him and he didn't think it was a big deal because she puts everything into her mouth. So we did a test and tried doing the same thing with another (inedible) object and she didn't open her mouth. She only opened her mouth when we put food up to it. She's learning from just observing us (soaking it up like a little sponge).

Happy 1/2 a year birthday sweetheart! Mommy and Daddy love you very much and we're looking forward to the next 6 months of the exciting adventures of baby Astrid.