It's official. She's six months old.

Elise turned six months today! We celebrated by giving her her very first tastes of rice cereal. She loved it! She has been a little cranky (refusing to nap'll do that to ya), so hopefully she'll be even more receptive the next time we try.

Oh, and patting is her new favorite way to explore things, so that's why she's patting so enthusiastically in the video. Isn't she adorable?

I Can't Believe It.

Elise will be six months old tomorrow. I'm sitting here thinking about that and getting a little sad. If I didn't plan on having more kids eventually, I'd be pretty depressed right now. Tomorrow starts the time when Elise's only food isn't my breastmilk. She's never had anything else. Her being able to eat other things, I'm sure, will feel like a relief sometimes, but right now I just want her all to myself to love and take care of. As exhausting as this first six months has been sometimes, I'm not sure I want Elise to be a big baby yet. But she's definitely not a newborn anymore.

I was talking on the phone to my oldest sister recently, and she mentioned that my mom didn't want to stop breastfeeding me. I am the youngest of seven children, and my mom nursed us all. I said something about how weird it was that I was like 18 months old when my mom finally weaned me (and even then it was because the doctor told her she should because she had bad bruises on her chest from being in a car accident). Now that I think about it, though, I can understand how she might feel that way. There's something happy and intimate and innocent about nursing a baby.

Elise is so grown up all of a sudden. Matt said the other day, "She's so cute when she sits and plays. She looks like an actual human, not like a lump of lard." Translation for those of you who are offended for Elise's sake: "She's so cute, and she's getting to be so grown up and independent." Matt keeps things light around here.

Elise is so ready for solids. Today she lurched to grab the food I was eating, and for quite some time she's had a hawk eye on me as I eat. She loves to sip water from a cup (even though most of it comes back out of her mouth again), and she thinks spoons are really great to put in her mouth. (Then again, I'm not so sure she cares about spoons in particular because she puts everything in her mouth.) She's been sitting since her 5-month birthday, and she's getting better at it all the time. She's going to love solid foods.

We're planning on introducing rice cereal tomorrow. I'll be sure to take lots of pictures and maybe even a video, and you can expect a blog post about it. And I'll try not to be too sad that my little girl is growing up.

8 days old

now

Toy Hog

I left Elise on her back for a minute with a couple of toys while I went to the bathroom. When I came back, she was in the pile of toys. I guess she didn't like the ones I gave her.

She has been such a toy hog lately. She wants to play with three or four toys at once. And sometimes she won't be satisfied with less than all the toys we have.

Take, Eat

I love this essay about motherhood by Tessa Meyer Santiago. It's called "Take, Eat." I just reread it. I can't say how much I needed it today.

http://mldb.byu.edu/Santiago-TakeEat.htm

If you have any trouble getting to the essay with this link, please let me know in a comment!

Five Months

Elise is getting so big! I can't believe she's already 5 months old today!

Here's a video we took today of her sitting all on her own.

Parodies

We sing to Elise a lot, but we like to change the words around for her. These are a few favorites:

Messmaker, Messmaker (tune of Matchmaker, Matchmaker from Fiddler on the Roof)

Let's Change Your Diaper (Let's Get Together from The Parent Trap)

Do the Poo Poo (Do the Moo Shoo from Veggie Tales) [Recent discovery to pass the time while waiting for Elise to finish pooping]

Goodnight, Elise (Goodnight, Ladies from The Music Man)

If You're Happy and You Know It Clap Your Feet [It's much easier to clap Elise's feet for her than her hands. She loves this one. When I say, "your face will surely show it," I put her feet on her cheeks, which she thinks is pretty funny.]

Most of the time we make up the words on the spot. To give you an idea of how we change the lyrics, here's an example:

[Tune from Let's Get Together from the Parent Trap]

Let's change your diaper,

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Dry is twice as nice as wet.

Let's change your diaper,

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

You'll feel much better I bet.

We'll change your diaper,

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Genius, I know.

New Hat

Isn't this hat cute on Elise? Aunt Paige made it for her. Because it's going to be winter in Provo forever. Tomorrow the high is 33°. I don't know what the high was for today, but it was ridiculously cold.