At the beginning of the month Mina had her 6 month well-baby visit and received her first vaccinations. She's perfectly healthy and on target for her age. Here are her stats:
Height - 26.5 inches, 75th percentile
Weight - 18 lbs 11 oz, 93rd percentile
Head - 44.5 cm, 85th percentile
(Yes, she's a big girl!)
We slowly introduced Mina to solid foods this month, all prepared fresh here at home by us. I never thought using a food mill could be so rewarding! It's a wonderful feeling to prepare the food that will be nourishing your baby, and that will be her 1st experience of solid foods. So far she's had: brown rice, banana, sweet potato and peas. Her favorite being banana. :) We had a little run-in with constipation at the end of the month... she went 5 days without a poopie. During that time Mina was not very interested in solid foods. Smart girl!
When Nana Sue was here we went to La Jolla to visit my cousin & his family (they have newborn twins) as well as Nana Sue's sister and her husband. It was a lovely day. Mina spent a bit of time in a pack and play, and actually pulled up to her knees for the first time in the p&p. She also started crawling backwards. She has not yet mastered the art of crawling forwards, but she does some great yoga poses... downward facing dog & dolphin. :) Mina loves to stand with a bit of assistance, in fact she's more interested in standing than in crawling.
Towards the middle of the month Mina began sitting up by herself from a laying down position. This has changed the crib experience dramatically. We have her crib beside the bed, so now when she wakes up she sits up and then stares at us. It was unnerving at first, but now it's cute because she's usually smiling at us as well. :)
An interesting thing that happened this month involved Captain Henry, Mina's favorite pirate cat. Mina and I were on the floor in the living room on her playmat and Henry walked by and did something silly. Well Mina laughed at him, then looked at me and smiled and we both laughed together. It was so cool to interact with her like that!
The biggest milestone this month occurred at 6 months, 3 weeks. Teeth!! She cut her first tooth on Monday, the second on Wednesday. Her behavior was erratic for a few days, but by Thursday it was smooth sailing. Grampy Bill arrived that week, too. He was great with Mina. We had a major heat wave while Grampy was here, and a huge fire, so we took off for Venture one day and Santa Monica the next to enjoy the fresh and somewhat cooler ocean air.
