Hibou: 6 Months

 My little Blondie turned 6 months old last week.  And she is still my little blonde-haired, blue-eyed wonder. (How providential that we picked a nice Scandinavian name for little Blondie)

Comparisons: Hibou at 5 Months   And Papillon at 6 Months

Official stats to come later this week after her official appointment.

 At 6 months, Hibou....

....loves to do this:

Namely, grab her feet. Though generally they are all the way up in her mouth, or over her head and behind her ears or something. She is very flexible, and totally embraces her flexibility. Combine that with fact that she puts absolutely everything in her mouth, and she should really be nick named Slobber Toes.  

....rolls over both ways. Though only in one direction.  When she goes from her tummy to her back, she picks up her head, throws it to the left and rolls over on that side. She has never, even once, gone the other way (more on this later)  She also has a tendency to get frustrated when she rolls herself from back to tummy - she wants to roll back, but forgets that she can do that. And so gets frustrated. Silly kid.

 

... doesn't sit up yet. I thought Papillon was an unmotivated kid, but compared to Hibou, Papillon is an over-achiever.  Hibou doesn't even seem interested in sitting up.  I encourage her to do so, and she simply tries to dive for her feet.  None of that fists-to-the-ground-monkey-pose that kids get when they are learning to sit up.  She's decently strong, but it may be a little while be fore she is even remotely stable at sitting.

....sleeps great. Or, at least she did.  The week leading up to vacation she was actually sleeping 10-11 hours. It was awesome! Then we went on vacation...and while on vacation she went from bad to terrible in terms of sleep. The first couple nights I was up every 2 hours...not a huge deal, I slept soundly inbetween.  The last night of vacation, she went to bed at 9pm, got up at 10:30, Midnight, and every 30 minutes after that all the way till 6am. That would officially be the worse night of sleep I have gotten to date.   Now, post-vacation, we seem to be back on track for better sleeping: fingers crossed!

....generally takes a couple cat naps in the morning, and one good nap in the afternoon.  The only time she is truly fussy is when she is tired. A 2 hour nap fixes everything!

....is still 100% nursing. Anywhere from every 1 to 4 hours throughout the day.  We'll start solid foods soon...eventually....sometime...

....is lots of fun.  She smiles at everyone and it generally looks like she is flirting with you, or being really sure. It is very endearing.

....is very laid back. She entertains herself quite well. Is generally quite when we are out running errands and such.  And, 95% of the time, her fussing is for some very apparent reason (i.e. "I'm Hungry" or "I'm tired" (most often) or "My sister just put a towel over my face and I am freaking out")

...doesn't suck her thumb yet (Papillon was a hard-core thumb-sucker at this point). But does munch on her shirt constantly. Its always quite damp. 

...still has a very flat head. The biggest news for our little Hibou Marron is that we are moving forward with getting her a "helmet" to encourage her head to grow straight. We consulted with a specialist and determined that she has congenital muscular torticollis ("CMT") which is why she is always (always always always!) looking to the right. The muscle on that side of her neck is tight, making it difficult for her to stretch it out (oddly enough, this is why she always rolls to her left...its confusing, but it makes sense if you see it).   We will be treating that with some Physical Therapy, and then getting her a helmet to get head rounded out again.  The helmet is officially a cosmetic thing, but almost in the way that braces are merely cosmetic. If we didn't get the helmet, it might straighten itself back out, or it may continue to elongate some more. This would make not only the back right side of her head flat, but also the front left side as well. Already our little girl's ears are off-center because of the shape of her head.  I will likely do a separate post on this at some point (probably after she has the helmet). But, in conclusion. We will hopefully get the helmet in a month or so. And she will wear it for about 3 months after that.  Oh the adventures.

So there you have it. Hibou, at 6 months.  A little bundle of love, with a sweet spirit, a cute smile, tasty toes...and a crooked head.

We love you muchly, Hibou!