In the previous months that I've written these (self indulgent) posts, most of her major developments were physical in nature, like sitting up, rolling over or grasping things. This month it's more about what's happening in her head. It seemed like about a week after she turned six months old a light bulb turned on and everything was different. Here are the changes I've noticed:
- Separation anxiety. At the end of last month I think she was just starting to realize that I am, in fact, a seperate person, but it didn't bother her too much. Now that fact occasionally stresses her out. Sometimes she'll be as happy as can be playing in her "stationary entertainer," but if I walk out of her eyesight for a second it can be a full blown freak out. It doesn't happen all the time, but where she didn't much care before, now she definitely does.
- Stranger anxiety. I think this one goes hand in hand with the separation anxiety. For months my baby would happily smile at anyone who smiled at her first. Then all of a sudden she wasn't smiling back so much and sometimes even crying. The frowning-lower-lip-quiver-I'm-about-to-cry face is cute, but it's also kind of sad she's realizing that maybe not everyone is her friend.
- "Ga." Madame is very chatty, and now she's got a favorite word. "Ga." Actually, it's her only word, and she uses it for everything. Someone walks in the room that she recognizes - "Ga!" Hand her a toy that she likes - "Ga!" Get her ready for breakfast - "Ga!" There's lots of random baby chatter too, but this is a word that definitely has some meaning for her, even if it means everything.
- Naps. OK. Judging from the comments I got about my sleep post a little while ago, I promise not to write about how great my baby sleeps. I got lucky, the next baby won't be so easy, it has nothing to do with me - I get it. So I'm not saying here that she's settled down into falling asleep for a nap twice a day (morning and afternoon) at about the same time each day. And I'm definitely not saying that it has anything to do with what I'm doing (because it really doesn't).