Dear Persephone,
You’re six months old today. That’s half a year. As for me, I just calculated that I am now 500 months old. That’s half a lifetime. It’s a well-known fact that time flows more quickly as you get older. These six months have probably seemed like an eternity to you, but I could stand on my head for six months and think nothing of it. You are experiencing so much growth, so many new things, it must be phenomenal. I can’t even imagine the world from your perspective, but I try. Just in the last month you’ve started babbling, your first tooth has come in, and you’ve just started on solid food. Research indicates that sticking to breast milk for the first six months of life can reduce the chance you’ll develop food allergies. Apparently the spaces between cells in your intestine are closed up by now, and you’re starting to produce your own antibodies, so taking in some other food should be safer for you. I’d have liked to delay solids for another month or two but your mom felt it was time. So far you’ve had four or five (tiny) meals of applesauce, and you seem to like it. In general you smile and laugh so much it’s really disarming, and I’ve wondered what on earth you have to be so happy about. You’ve been going to daycare (or “school” as we like to call it) for a month now, and the staff says you’re the happiest baby there. Well, somebody has to be.
People keep warning me that it won’t go on like this forever. Just wait until she starts teething. (And you have been fussier with that tooth coming in.) Wait until she starts crawling. Or walking. Or talking. Wait until she’s ten, or thirteen, or twenty-one. It’s only going to get worse. I’ve realized all these naysayers are doing me an immense favor. They’re managing my expectations. They’ve drummed me up so full of dread that reality can only be a relief.
Happy half year birthday to Persephone and you and Xy!
Yeah, I feel the same way about naysayers. The truth, at least in my experience, is that every stage of my kid’s life has been amazing to watch–but only when I can manage to free myself of expectations and try to stay open to the constant changes and surprises.
Boo, naysayers. My only advice would be to enjoy every single moment of her babyhood. It’s sad how quickly it passes. (Not-so-sage advice from the mother of a 3-year-old.)
I might be in that “naysayer” group, as I said that it would be “different.” But you should enjoy every little thing, because before you know it those days will be gone.
Lucky you–not only are you enjoying having a baby, you are also aware of how special that is.
Peace,
Tim
I think you have a good “perpective” with regard to reality being a relief. Maybe it will get “worse”, but there is always something to worry about. Personnally, I’m not a “baby person” (my daughter is six now), yes babies freak me out. But there is only one way for a human to come to this world. So now that we sing songs together & she CAN READ :0 (THAT was cool to see for the first time, too) & she tries to make up new knock-knock jokes, she has hair i can braid. She has opinions about the best Scooby-Doo episodes. These are WONDERFUL times for me. Yeah she’ll get mouthy when she’s 13, but i can take her to Paris for X-mas when she’s that age. Hell, I can’t wait for when she can drive me around. (i HATE driving anymore). She’s IS too little to REALLY do the dishes, so that’ll be cool. Personnally I was glad when she stopped being a baby. And that’s MY opinion, B.