6 Months Old!

Drea was 6 months old yesterday, and we enjoyed celebrating her "half birthday". She has been growing fast and learned many things in the last week or two. She can see things across a room now, she gets squeals when she's excited, laughs independently, has started grabbing everything she can get her hands on, investigates everything around her, stands up on her feet when you hold her hands, and tries to hold her bottle by herself.

She loves to feel the texture of things. She rubs her hand on the wall next to her changing table while I'm changing her. She plays with tags and straps, and her newest favorite toy is "anything Mama is holding". She stares at everything she holds with an intense serious expression as she manipulates it with her hands. She's just so much more aware of the world around her now. When we go outside she wants to lean out and touch the petals on flowers and leaves on trees. She loves to watch videos of herself and other babies on youtube. She's really thrilled when she meets a baby or toddler at church. She loves water and is fascinated when she sees me washing something in the sink. She wants to stick her hands under the faucet and feel the water on her hands. She loves it when I sing to her, and gets especially happy if I substitute the lyrics for songs with singing her name over and over. She thinks the Sesame Street theme is marvelous when changed to "Drea Ann".

Just last week she started being affectionate. Sometimes when I'm holding her she will put her hands on the sides of my face and either kiss me (by putting her open mouth against my cheek) or just push her cheek against mine. She has recently become a little more clingy and wants to go back to me when I hand her to someone else. She prefers Brian and I to other people, and doesn't want anything to do with most strangers.

She still has to be propped up on something and can't sit up all by herself, but I don't think it'll be much longer before she can sit on her own. She is obsessed with trying to crawl or creep, but hasn't quite figured out how to move forward yet - she spins around in a circle. She can roll from back to tummy and sometimes tummy to back. She's rolled all the way over a couple of times, but hasn't figured out she can roll from one place to another just yet. We've got to get the house baby proofed.

We had the family over for her half birthday last night. I didn't expect her to get any presents, but her aunt and uncle bought her Violet. Violet talks and plays music. Whenever she talks Drea wants to bite her nose.
We had strawberry shortcakes for dessert. I decided it would be OK to let Drea have a bit of a treat, so I let her try just a few bites of whipped cream. I also let her stick her hand in some to see how it felt.
We had a pretty good time, but Drea was exhausted by the time everyone left. I can't believe how time flies by so fast sometimes. It seems like we just brought her home and she's six months old already!