6 months old

Hanna became 6 months old this week and there have been lots of changes. She really seemed to grow up in the last few weeks and become more of a little person



Hannah now has 2 crawling motions. Paddling across the floor with a kind of 'butterfly' stroke, or just sliding forward pushing with her big toes. She now happily cruises around the living-room floor for hours, piling up crumbs and fluff in front of her like a bow wave.



With the mobility she is can make decisions about what she wants to do, and she has started to communicate her intentions in various ways. When she wants to be picked up she crawls over to our feet. When she wants to be put down she leans out of our grasp towards the floor. When she wants to be with Rika she says "ba-ba!" (coincidentally Japanese for 'old woman!'), and when she is frustrated and hungry she says "MMm-BA!". And she now makes eye-contact a lot more and exchanges smiled or laughs.



Since Hannah is mobile now she often just wants to move around and entertain herself, and this gives us more time to ourselves. Instead of having to entertain Hanna at mealtimes we can now enjoy a few minutes together while she crawls around below, looking for choking hazards and unprotected wiring. And of course she is beginning to have slips and falls.



Hannah's manual dexterity has really improved and she is surprisingly strong. At mealtimes she can now hold a cup by herself.