Dear Baby Bee,
Oops, I haven’t written your 6 month letter yet. Bad mummy… So, a big hip hip hooray, Happy 1/2 Birthday to you!!
Your sister photo bombed my attempts at your six month photo, jumping in for a quick kiss. And then insisted on cuddling up on the couch for photos together afterwards. She loves you so much.
 |
| We don’t really sit you on the couch very often, for safety’s sake, because you roll around so much these days… |
You had your first cold this month. Sniffle, sniffle, cough. A few unsettled nights with a sore throat. Poor little thing.
We popped by the early childhood clinic for a check up. You measured 6.7kg (~20th percentile), 63.5cm long (~25th percentile), with a head circumference of 43cm (~65th percentile).
Six months also means vaccinations. You screamed. Your sister also cried in sympathy.
 |
| Photo by the very talented Megan Webb |
But on the bright side, you got to taste food for the first time! We’d been trying to hold off as long as possible, but at around five and a half months you started shouting at us whenever you saw us eat. Not crying, SHOUTING. Audibly demanding to be fed. Or at least included. I think it was the included part that you wanted most of all.
Whilst we are doing a version of Baby-Led Weaning, I thought some mushy roasted sweet potato might be a good first start.
You squished it, and painted with it, and ended up collecting the majority around your thighs. But you never actually brought any up to your mouth for a taste. That’s OK. At your age, food is not just for eating. It’s also for touching, feeling, smelling, participating. And I’m totally counting this as your first work of art.
The second try, a day or so later, was half a banana. You picked it up, squished it into mush in your fist, and had fun painting again. I did put some to your mouth to encourage you to eat some this time, but no, you were having too much fun with all your other senses to actually taste any.
So we tried again that night with a steamed green bean at dinner time, and this time you knew exactly what to do. The bean was firm enough for you to hold without squishing, and yet soft enough that you could suck on it and get some of the taste.
And here you are a few nights later trying some noodles. Yummy AND fun!
You haven’t quite figured out the swallowing bit yet. Even food that you’ve mushed up gets spat back out. But there’s plenty of time for that. For now, you are enjoying the act of eating, the different colours, textures, smells and tastes. You are learning where your gag reflex is, and how to use your tongue to push food around your mouth. You are developing your hand-eye coordination. And you are enjoying the social aspects of eating, of being included as part of the family dining experience. All important lessons for such a wee little girl!
Mummy, Daddy and JJ love you lots and lots and lots and lots and lots and lots.
xx
Mummy
Previous letters to Bee:
A letter to Bee (5 months)
A letter to Bee (4 months)
A letter to Bee (3 months)
A letter to Bee (2 months)
A letter to Bee (1 months)
Bee’s Birth Story