Adventures in Deutschland

So today (when I wrote this part of the draft) is the day, July 2, 2009. Our little Greta bear is 6 months old. Happily, though my inclination to want to freeze her in time and not let her grow out of the newborn phase, or the 3 month old...has been trumped by the fruition of what everyone says, which is that it just gets better and better and you love your kids more and more every day. So. True. So, our little bear has been doing so many new things lately, it's thrilling. She ate her first rice cereal the other day. Rolls over fully from her back to tummy. Is very engaging and giggly when you pretend to eat her up (good thing since her cute cheeks necessitate such behavior multiple times a day). Exercises her chubby little legs "jumping" in her Exersaucer. Puts her hand out to pet her doggie brothers whenever they pass by (they, by the way, are equally smitten with her. Heinrich lays under her crib when I'm putting her down to sleep and has twice left his ball at her door for her "to play with" overnight. Who would have thought that our jealous little dachshund would turn out to be such a good big brother?).

At her 6 month well-baby appointment, well at her maybe she has an ear infection (she didn't, apparently just likes to tug at her right ear when nursing) appointment during which Mommy asked nice Dr. Vega if she could do the check-up part of the 6 month well-baby (w/o the shots, will probably have to go on the German economy to get those), these are her stats... 22 lbs and 26 inches. Yes, our big little girl is now wearing 12-18 month clothes. We think she'll be tall. She was 20 inches at birth and has grown one inch in height each month since then! Wayne and I filled out the 6 month assessment of Greta's Cognitive, Behavioral, Social, Gross and Fine Motor skills. We had to choose whether Greta "Always" "Sometimes" or "Not Yet" does things such as pass toys from one hand to the other, smiles and reaches for her likeness in the mirror... Glad to report she's above average in all areas, with the Gross Motor being the slowest area of development, go figure for such a big kid!

Yesterday was July 4 and we went on base for my first Fourth of July on a military base. G would have liked the carnival rides and jumpy castles if she were a bit older, so we just walked around a little and showed them to her. She was pretty blase' as not much excites this child to the point of squeeling (other than the eating-up game, see above). The fireworks here don't start until 10:30 pm because that's when it gets dark, so needless to say, we did not attend this year. After a quick snooze in the car substituted for her last nap of the day, Greta was asleep by 6:05 pm last night. Of course, she wakes up at 5 am every morning, so she's taking her first nap now (7:45) as I'm letting Wayne sleep in and I start my days quite early. Also on July 4th, Greta's first tooth finally showed itself!