Dear Joshua,
Today you are six months old. It is hard to believe that so much time has already passed and it is awesome to see how much you have grown and how much you have learned in what is actually quite a short time. You are sitting up pretty steady meanwhile but still need assistance and at some point you start to tip, so I have to be there to lend you a hand. You are rolling from side to side, but not rolling over yet. You love to play with your feet and standing is your favorite position on the planet. Even when you are lying down you love stretching your legs as straight out as you can. No signs of crawling yet, although you have begun creeping a bit (backwards).
You are a funny baby, you have definitely inherited your papa's funny genes and your mama's funny bone, you make me laugh all the time and seem quite pleased with yourself about it. You have started giving me slobbery wet open mouth kisses on my face. This makes me laugh which just encourages you to slobber even more. You laughed hysterically when I was eating a pear two days ago, because it was so juicy I was slurping it while I was biting it. You thought it was so funny and laughed every bite I took. You also found your bath toys funny, these little plastic figures that spit water, a walrus, a crab and a blowfish - You were non-stop giggling while I was filling them with water and spraying water on you.
Yesterday, your brother came in the room and you were on my lap and you just started laughing at Leo...at the sight of him. It was like you were trying to engage him. It was so cute. Leo started laughing too and the more he laughed, the more you laughed until you were practically shrieking. It was just adorable.
We have started doing ASL signs and the sign for milk has been a part of your vocab since you were about five months. We have also been doing "I love you", "mommy loves baby", mommy, papa, brother, eat, sleep, lion, play, swimming, as well as yes, no and more. It seems you understand the I love you, cause your eyes light up and you stare both at my hand then at me.
Your favorite songs are "Hush little baby" at bedtime, "Hey Mr. Nickerbocker" anywhere, anytime and "The eensey weensey spider" with hand signs in the morning. I also sing you "Fly me to the moon" at bedtime. You love to watch me play guitar and listen. In fact your eyes light up when you see me bring it out. I play Guns and Roses' "Sweet Child of Mine" as well as Neil Young's "Heart of Gold". I also wrote part of a song for you when you were around 8 weeks old, until just the other day I still only had a chorus and not an inkling of how the rest should go. I finally was able finish composing it and hope to record it soon! In general you just love music, though you don't seem to like children's music very much, with the exception of Lullabys which you love...you also really like The Beatles and your favorite song is "Free as a Bird". You are also quite fond of Jack Johnson as well as Willie Nelson. I have some Native American music which I play for you. You like this especially for all of the nature sounds that come up. And what is nice for your mama, is that you love listening to her sing and play guitar, so she gets to practice and you are entertained at the same time : )))
You are a nature lover just like your mama. I try to get outdoors with you as often as possible, nearly every day, and if the weather is nice, like it was on my birthday last week, we go out and lay on a blanket under a tree. You are in heaven and you could lay there staring up at the tree for days it seems. On my birthday you and I went to Südpark for a few hours. It was the first day of autumn and the weather was sublime. I did a bit of jogging through the woods and we found a nice tree in a field. Mommy did her stretches and you practiced your sitting and did your tummy time while examining the fallen leaves on the ground. Afterwards you stared up at the tree and contentedly watched the leaves blow in the light wind.
Last weekend you also got your first solid food! Just a few days shy of six months. You got pureed parsnips(turnip) to start Hipp Baby Food, all natural and totally pure (no additives). You made a funny face with each bite, but found it interesting, and kept accepting bite for bite. You to it down pretty well too! I got your first solid food on film and your papa fed you. Since then you have also tried the carrots and the pumpkin. In the meantime, mommy has made you pureed pumpkin with potatoes, you like mommy's freshmade much better than Hipp's food :) I also made you parsnip and fennel puree. Mommy always prepares this with a little flaxseed oil or extra-virgin olive oil to help you absorb the vitamins and give you a bit of fat and omegas....Since you are eating mommy's food you seem to love eating. In fact we can not get the food to your mouth fast enough. If the next spoonful takes too long you start yelling!
Your papa's temporary job at DHL as expeditor has now ended, thank God!, and he has had a few days off, those 12 hour days are behind us for the moment. He now has a new permanent job with Unterer GmbH as expeditor at Munich's wholesale marketplace. He is bringing fresh goods daily in from Italy and distributing them. This will mean a bit of travelling to customers in Italy. Anyhow your papa has long wanted to be working at the wholesale marketplace and has wanted a chance to use his Italian again and this job has given him both. We look forward to seeing how this will develope!
Your brother Leo is enjoying his new school just down the street from us. He is in the fourth grade, repeating it after a chaotic year last year. He has also started climbing lessons at the climbing facility. He is very agile, thin and long-limbed. In other words he has the perfect physique for climbing. He has been climbing around like a monkey for years. We are finally trying to channel this ability and interest of his.
Unfortunately for mama's ears you have started screetching again...mostly when you want to complain about something...boredome, restlessness, tiredness even hunger. It is very ear-piercing and I hope you get over it. You stopped this for a number of weeks, but have picked it up again - too bad for your poor family members as well as the cat, who takes off running when you start.
Falling asleep is still difficult for you. We have to rock you in your bassinet to help you fall asleep with your bunny-love, your binky and lullabyes and although a part of you wants to sleep very much another part of you can't let go, and wants to stay awake as if not wanting to miss anything. This struggle then makes you frustrated and you get mad, red-faced and kick. Finally at some point when you can relax, sleep eventually takes over. For the longest time when you slept you would sleep with both hands up and I always called this your praise-the-Lord sleeping position. You no longer do praise-the-Lord but have taken to what your papa calls the Italian traffic-cop: head to one side, hand up on that side and the other hand down...so cute. You sleep in your bassinet to start until you come to nurse in the middle of the night, then you stay in bed with us the rest of the night. You then at some point awaken us with your waterfall babbling, when you have decided it is time to start the day!
I could look at you for hours when you are sleeping, I love how peaceful you look. I love when you are awake and sit in your bouncy chair in the morning and stare at me, flirt with me and smile at me, while I have breakfast. We have whole conversations it would seem just with eye-contact. It is wonderful.
Your personality has become quite clear. You are very active, curious, alert and crave interaction - not a sitby and watch the world go by type baby. I think this will in some way be very challenging in other ways less challenging. Getting you interested in things is no problem, you just are.
I feel so blessed to be your mommy and to have such a wonderful baby as you. I love you to bits and pieces. We already look at your newborn pictures in awe, that you were ever that tiny and helpless. You have become so agile and present in the short six months of your life. Watching you grow into the little person you are becoming is an honor and a rare incomparable treat. I wouldn't trade it for the world!
All my love, Your adoring Mother.
