Happy 6-Month Birthday, E.!

While Hurricane Irene dumps water over us and cancels (or hopefully just delays) our Outer Banks vacation, M. suggested I post a recent video of our busy E. She's moving like whoa! She rolls to wherever she wants to be. And she's starting to develop a sturdy trunk: just today M. helped her sit up, unsupported.

And E. eats now, too! E. had her first lick of solids on August 10, 2011. She was 5 and 1/2 months old (like A.). These days, she dines on avocado and I've just introduced her to some mama-made pureed peas. A. enjoys feeding E., too.

And, generally speaking, E. is just plain adorable.  Not that her recent (to be exact, August 22, 2011) exclamation of "MA-MA" won me over or anything or influenced this mother's opinion (no, really. We heard her say it. And she only says it when she's mad and hungry and tired and wanting something from Mama [think: "wawawawawawawaMAMAMAwawawawa!"). She's just precious. And funny. And lively. And happy.

At 6-months old, E. loves watching her sister A. (when A. is having a two-year old tantrum, E. actually laughs!). She's trying to get up on her knees and move more efficiently (oh, dear me. A. was crawling between 6 and 7 months, too). She takes a really long morning nap, a shorter afternoon nap, and - as of late - her sleep has been a little splotchy, i.e., sometimes only one wake-up and, more recently, three (ugh!). We've managed to coax her out of a 6:30PM bed time (that was really cramping our style). E. loves bath time (and kicking her legs like crazy). She also loves to give big, open-mouth kisses on cheeks and chins. And, most wonderfully, E. smiles at everyone. E. loves life these days. And we love her!