Halfway through

As I was holding onto Madelyn tonight after she fell asleep and stopped feeding, I gazed at her perfect little face; her perfectly plump little lips, adorable long eyelashes (just like Austy’s), cute little button nose, and rosy cheeks. She seems so big now, such a little person instead of the tiny helpless baby she once was. I gazed lovingly at her and just as it does every night before I kiss those precious cheeks and tuck her into her cot, a smile took over my face as I wondered how she had grown so quickly before my eyes. Since she is our second baby and planned to be our last, I know how this year will feel like just a moment in her hopefully long and happy life so I try to soak up every second and capture it forever in my heart.

Madelyn is nearly seven months old now, a perfect, happy and placid little girl who loves to laugh and watch the world around her as everything seems to be entertainment to her. Andrew and I can clearly see the contrasts between our two beautiful children, who at times look so similar, as if they were twins born three years apart. Austin, at the same age was a real little joker. He’d try to do anything to get our attention, and when he got it (how could we not look at him when he did funny things like poking out his tongue or chatted nonsensically to himself for hours) he’d giggle and beam with pride at his own cleverness. Madelyn, just fits in perfectly to our little family by adoring everything her big brother does, and just happy to sit and watch and enjoy the smiles we all give her. She doesn’t “chat” as much as Austin did at this age, in fact the only sounds she makes are cute attempts at raspberries, squeals of delight and the usual “dadadadad” baby chatter, that really only just started a few weeks ago. I remember Austy saying all sorts of sounds by now. It’s almost as if Austy was the sort of baby who wanted to make everything happen for him, just the way he wanted it, whereas Maddy is the type to just be amused by what everyone else is doing that she doesn’t need to try and get our attention, we have hers instead! Their personalities compliment each other so well, Austy dotes on her, she adores him, and we know that they will grow up with the best friend they could possibly have in each other. And for that we feel lucky. Our two perfect kids.

I never did get to give you Maddy’s 6 month update, things are always so busy here, and without the laptop working I am spending much less time on the net because I don’t like to be in a separate room when Austy is playing (he doesn’t like it much either – very much a Mummy’s boy, which I am soaking up while I can!). So here are her 6 month stats:

Weight: 8.5kg (90th percentile)
Length: 76cm (90th percentile)
Teeth: Two (bottom middle)
Latest trick: Sitting up unaided
Mobility: Still no rolling, crawling or walking (thank goodness!) but she can squirm around in a 360 on the floor and hold herself up well on her tummy.

Madelyn really loves her solids, however she is taking some time to get used to opening her mouth for the spoon. She tends to try and slurp it off the spoon like a soup rather than open her mouth and take the whole spoon in. So far she has mainly had fruits and vegetables, with her first taste of red meat tonight, which she loved (homemade veal with vegetables and a little apple for sweetness). Her favourite foods are banana, and apple & mango purees. She quite likes the pear and sweet potato combo too.

Today, a third tooth cut, much to our surprise, the top eye tooth on her right. I can see a little hole where it’s matching left tooth is trying to pop out, but she has no sign of those two middle top teeth, so we joked that she is a little vampire. The tooth is well and truly out of the gum, which caught me quite off guard when I spotted it as I was trying to settle her for her morning nap and she was crying. She had a cold over last weekend and was very unsettled by it, waking 2hrly and sometimes 1hrly (lucky bleary eyed me). We suspected the 6 month immunisations had a role to play in that too, as the rotavirus vaccine is meant to hit its peak reaction at 7-10 days post dose. Her cheeks had glowed on the odd occasion but other than that, the teething signs were pretty minimal. She had been a bit grumpy this morning, trying to chew her toys, which is what made me think to look while she was crying in her cot as I patted her tummy. I expected to see a slight redness, not the sharp little tooth that sparkled at me in all its white glory! We are very pleased that she doesn’t get as upset about teeth emerging as Austy used to.

Austy is really blossoming now too. We had been having some difficulty teaching him that no means no, and in dealing with his constant need for my attention when Maddy needs me too. I borrowed a book from the toy library called “1-2-3 Magic” and followed it precisely, and like magic the monster side of our boy has vanished, and we can enjoy Austin for the bright and affectionate little boy he is. He loves to tell stories, and have them told to him, an extension of his love for books, and his way of interpreting the world around him. His favourite thing to say at the moment is “tell me a story about this day Mummy/Daddy” and then we are expected to recite with detail, everything that has happened up to that point of the day, and then continue on with what is going to happen to the little boy called Austin that is the main character of our story. If we miss a detail, we have to go back and slot it in… there’s no skipping bits! And he thinks I’m a bit silly when I try to encourage imagination, as he’s very much a tell it like it is kind of boy, and imagination only gets to come into play when he chooses it to. For example, the other day I was taking the kids to the zoo and he wanted Daddy’s binoculars. I told him that it didn’t matter as we could pretend we had binoculars. I circled my fingers over my eyes and said “See, look at my fantastic red binoculars! What colour are yours?” He looked at me as if I was silly and said “Mine are the same colour like my skin mummy”, duh!

I have been teaching him to write his name and he loves how I tell him a little sentence to help with each one, like A is “up and down and across the middle” and he recites it every time he tries to draw an A or sees an A on a sign. I am encouraging him to draw using the blackboard as he never has been much of a colour in or scribble type of kid. At the 2.5yr check up CYH said his pencil grip was “immature” and had to be corrected by kindy, so I am glad I have found something that he likes to do with drawing. I draw a snail on the blackboard and he will draw over it and decorate the shell, and he loves to draw over the letters and numbers I draw on the board for him. He loves craft at the library after story time, and is now starting to colour in chunks rather than just scribbles all over the page.

Yesterday Austy came down with a virus of some kind and spiked a fever, but he is the best patient, as long as I sit and cuddle him. Just a little tricky today with Maddy wanting cuddles today too with her 4th tooth on the way. It seems the worst of it is over though and he’ll be back to his normal energetic self in no time.