6 months: sitting, seeing family, going mobile

Fiona is no longer really interested in lying back and letting the world come to her, she wants to sit or stand up and reach out and grab what's out there. Here she is enjoying the novelty of going for her first ride sitting up in her stroller like a big girl.





She's eating for more than recreation these days, with a diet that now includes: rice cereal, oatmeal cereal, sweet potatoes, avocado, peaches, pears, bananas, and yogurt. As I write, Dad is getting ready to introduce papaya. She gave two thumbs down to plums (actually pluots...), but we thought they were delicious! Here she practices walking with a little help from Dad.





Grandma & Auntie Kim came for a visit a couple of weeks ago. Auntie Kim hadn't seen Fiona since she was 5 weeks old, and as you can see here, they were a little slow to warm up to each other (ha ha)...





Auntie Kim brought Fiona some stylish baby clothes from her recent trip to Paris, which she models here with help from Grandma. Fiona gave Grandma a warm welcome at the airport & followed up with a wave bye-bye when we dropped Grandma off to fly home.




Fiona enjoyed another milestone while Grandma & Auntie Kim were here: sitting in a restaurant high chair for the first time. As you can see here, she thought it was awesome! She chewed on straws, tried to choke on a sweet potato fry, and practiced her bird calls, much to the delight (I'm sure) of the other patrons. If only it had been basketball season, she would have fit right in at the Top of the Hill...


At 6 months, Fiona posed more cooperatively than usual for her monthly portrait. She seems to have come to recognize that we want her to look at the little silver box and smile. I am beginning to think that she looks like Jeff when she's smiling and like me when she's serious faced.



Although she posed cooperatively for a while, she soon wanted to climb over the side of the chair - See ya mama!

This week Fiona did her first "army crawl" and is now officially a mobile creature. She can't crawl with her belly up yet, but she is very, very close. Here's a photo of her in action yesterday morning. She seems most motivated to get to things that aren't toys (like this Roomba beacon). All the outlets are covered, and the cupboard under the kitchen sink is latched, now for the stair gates and all the glassware cupboards...


You can see more recent photos here.

Fiona at Five months: discovering animals

Here's Fiona a 5 months old showing what a big baby she's getting to be. She started going to daycare recently and so far, she doesn't seem ruined. She's as happy as ever and she seems to enjoy "school" and to get a lot of positive stimulation and good naps there, so we are happy.


One of Fiona's favorites things in the world is our cat Isabel. When she gets to pet Isabel she can't contain her excitement. Isabel is remarkably tolerant and seems to like Fiona, though she often keeps a slight but safe distance as shown here.



Another thing that's been lighting up her face these days is seeing a hummingbird visit our feeder. Since her first glimpse, she keeps a keen eye out and will smile when she sees it appear. She also watches squirrels, cardinals, bees, goldfish, and dragonflies with interest.







Although she recently had her first bouts of illness - nothing serious, just a cold and then some projectile vomiting - these have not dimmed her sunny disposition. Fiona's happy to wake up every morning and the opening of a poem by David Swanger, called "My Daughter's Morning" (thanks Michele!) captures it well:

"My daughter's morning streams
over me like a gang of butterflies..."

We've posted some more recent photos here.