Six Month Old Esther

• At her six month checkup Esther weighed 14 pounds 11 ounces and was 25 1/2 inches long. She seems so small to us compared to Austin at this age (he was over 19 pounds) but she is sticking to her growth curve so it's all good.
• Esther's hair is nearly as light as Austin's. Funny, his started really light and darkened up, hers started really dark and lightened up but they seem to have just about met in the middle.
• Esther managed to roll over in a cloth diaper this month. It was in front of Daddy, so he finally got to witness her new skill in person. STILL no video of this, though, and not for lack of trying.
• Laying on her back and nibbling on her toes is one of Esther's favorite activities. She can only do it when she's not wearing a diaper, though, so most days I let her hang out half naked for awhile during at least one diaper change. This has allowed me to put away much laundry that would otherwise remain in a basket.
• Esther is now a decent bottle drinker. I put her through bottle boot camp a few weeks back and made her take some milk out of a bottle first thing every morning before letting her nurse. It seemed to work. Hooray!
• Up to this point, Esther has had nothing but breast milk with the exception of a tiny bit of formula in the NICU. Time to start solids!
• Oops, that is not quite true. I gave her a tiny bit of banana off my finger the other day. I think she liked it.
• Esther's naps are short more often than they're long these days. I don't like that one bit but am not sure what to do about it.
• Esther still likes to be swaddled while she sleeps. I worry a bit about her becoming too dependent on it but I think we'll let her have it a bit longer.
• She still sleeps in our room but I think we'll kick her out soon.
• Much like Austin did at this age, Esther loves to chew on things. Favorite things to chew on include "The Duckling Book" and her toy cell phone.
• Esther likes to play peekaboo with a burpcloth. Sometimes if I let her hold on to the cloth, I swear she's covering up her own face and then pulling the cloth away. I think she's brilliant, naturally. :)
• Austin is Esther's favorite person, hands down. Everything he does amuses her. We walked up the stairs behind him the other day and she laughed the whole way. Watching the two of them have a "conversation" is one of my favorite things these days.
• Esther is halfway to her first birthday. I know, can you believe it?