Six Months

My Dearest Joslyn,

You are 6 months old today and that is most fabulous thing going on in this lifetime so far. You are happy and you are healthy, and you have made quite the marking in the world over such a short amount of time. As we watch you grow from month to month, we know we are the luckiest people on earth.


It was this month that we had to lower your crib mattress for the first time. The reason for this is because you have come to master pulling yourself up into a standing position against the railings. You seem so proud of yourself, and truthfully, so are we sweetheart. But as much as we encourage all of your developments, we feel we are getting a little bit gypped of the calming, restful, and somewhat stationary baby we thought we'd have for a reasonable period of time. You are quickly showing us how much you can get into, always looking for stimulation, and have to be on the Go, Go, Go! You are a little spit fire, that much we know!


You've developed a few new funny faces this month peanut. And you continually like to perform cute and silly acts to get a rise out of us, which has triggered a new nickname daddy has for you. "Our Little Jambon" (pronounced Jam-Bonn, which when your dad says in his non-French tongue, just sounds hilarious). And the reason behind the nickname, is because you are always such a ham! Hamming it up for everyone to see. You like to hear your voice, the noises you can make, and the louder you are the better you feel! If people are talking, you're talking too. And if we're not paying close enough attention, you're gracing us with faces like this one:

And this one:

And it keeps us laughing until our tummies hurt. There is a new sound you like to make and I'll do my best to describe it. It's like a hard, fast, farting noise you make with your tongue. Another little attention-getter of yours that Grandma M says is your way of being "cheeky", because when you make this sound, it always seems to be in response to something. "Do you want your cousin to open his presents?" Response: "THWP!" We took you to church for the first time this month, and you insisted on making these loud blasts throughout the entire service. You even had the pastor laughing . . . and during prayer too! You have quite the personality little one, but we'll have to keep tabs on the cheekiness part. :-)


This month we started you on your first stage of solid foods. And here's what we've discovered so far. You love your peas, squash, and sweet potato. But the green beans make you wretch, and the peaches send off the sourest looking faces we've seen from you to date. Who knew fruit would give off such a reaction? And speaking of reaction, there's one thing these foods have in common . . . they all give you flatulence that puts your father to shame, and some seriously stinky poops to boot! When out in public, I don't think I've ever high-tailed it to the nearest rest room so fast. (Which, at the stake of the poor diners in the mall, has to be located INSIDE the food court). People warned me that as soon as you hit solid foods, things in the Southern hemisphere would change drastically. But really!?! Hopefully these moments won't scar you for life, nor will my detailing them on here for that matter.
(I pray that by the time you are old enough to read this, you'll have learned that I only have the best intentions)


You have aced the art of crawling all over the house. From the living room, to the bedroom, to the kitchen, and back again. You've discovered so many new things along your travels, that it's just amazing to me you'd even notice. You now crawl into your room and mess it up. Yes, you pull your stuffed animals off the shelf in the corner, the baskets off the shelves on your change table, and you move the stuff off the floor in your closet to other parts of the room. You've gotten into mommy's books and magazines on the coffee table, climbed up the stereo equipment, pulling down DVD's in your path, and repeatedly scurrying off to the dogs food dish where you love to pick up the pieces and attempt to put them in your mouth. It doesn't matter how many times we move you away, you put yourself right back there in record time.


You love to play cat and mouse. When we crawl behind you, you look back at us and then squeal in such delight before you crawl away as fast as your little legs can carry you. I never thought I'd be needing to baby proof our house in the fifth month of your life, nor did your dad and I think there would be scuff marks on the toes of your size 2 (or 3-6 month) shoes. It's hard enough seeing the time go by so quickly, never mind when you're so promptly off and running to the next stage of the game.


We took you to Folklorama for the first time this month. Folklorama is a huge multi-cultural event in the city that dates back 40 years. You attend different pavilions for each of the cultures that take place, learning all about their history, food, and dance, along the way. Your favorite part of each pavilion, is the dancing. Your eyes are always fixated on the stage, staring at the lights and the costumes. And if there are singers, you try to sing along too. Loudly. So loudly in fact, you usually end up having an audience all to your very own (along side some very red-faced parents). So far, we've attended the Scottish, Scandinavian, Chilean, Israeli, and Greek pavilions. We still have plans to take you to the Hungarian and Ukrainian pavilions. We have yet to have the culture-talk with you, but just so you know, you are one half Scottish because your mommy and daddy are each one half Scottish. So when we took you to the Scottish pavilion, we got you all dressed up in a red kilt and stockings. Well, if only we had a video camera with us to one day show you all the attention you got. You were by far the youngest kilted Scot in attendance, and all who saw you just had to stop and say hello. We were so proud to show off our little lassie to everyone.


We've had so much fun with you this month peanut, and we can't even begin to think of all that's in store for us in the next month. We love you with everything. It's because of you, and because of our little family, that we feel our lives have such great purpose. We will always be here for you. And with you. Loving you every day of your life.

Love,
Your Mama Bear