As she approaches six months, Raphaela has exhibited some milestones which continue to amaze me, and I grow more in love with her every day, as she becomes a real person with her own clear preferences.
Now, when we play with the cloth blocks, she clearly favors the blue rectangle and the yellow square. She ignores the purple semi-circle and will raise her eyebrows at me if I offer it to her.
Raphaela has also started attempting to speak real words, at night I hear her whispering "Da da da da." In the hopes that her first word will be "Mommy," I practice "Ma ma ma ma" with her as well.
As a reward for letting me check email, I go to Youtube and pull up the video of Harry Belefonte singing "Turn the World Around" with the Muppets. Entranced by the African masks, the drumming and Belefonte's soothing voice, Raphaela rocks back and forth and smiles the entire six minutes.
Today, when we sat and had lunch with Savta Shira (our last meeting before the trip next week), Raphaela grabbed Savta Shira's glass of water and drank out of it, without dripping at all. A real pro and so ready for solid foods: I am only holding back because of the restrictions of Pessach.
And then she did the most lovely thing of all: Raphaela gave Savta Shira the most gentle kiss on her cheek, and with adults being the most irrational beings on the planet, her adopted grandmother started crying. Out of joy of course, and it had me in quiet tears as well. (In her previous attempt to give me a kiss on the cheek, my daughter and I had ended up head-butting each other.)
Assuming we make it through this week with sanity intact, I am quite sure that my daughter will enjoy the plane ride, because it will give her the opportunity to meet new people and see new things. I, however, will arrive in Boston exhausted, just trying to keep up with her.
1 comment:
from babycenter
4 to 6 months
At this stage, your child will start to babble, combining consonants and vowels (such as "baba" or "yaya"). The first "mama" or "dada" may slip out now and then. Though it's sure to melt your heart, your baby doesn't equate those words with you quite yet. That comes later, when he's almost a year old.
Vocalization is a game to your baby, who's experimenting with using his tongue, teeth, palate, and vocal chords to make all sorts of funny noises. At this stage, babbling sounds the same, whether you speak English, French, or Japanese in your home. You may notice your child favoring certain sounds ("ka" or "da," for example), repeating them over and over because he likes the way they sound and how his mouth feels when he says them.
7 to 12 months
When he babbles and vocalizes now, your baby will sound as if he's making sense. That's because he's trying out tones and patterns similar to the ones you use. Foster his babbling by talking to him and reading to him.
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