Letter to Emma at 6 months

DEAR Emma,

The first six months have just zoomed by. You are a fantastic baby - smiley, cheerful and wonderfully good-natured.

You are such a great addition to our family. We all adore you, especially your big sister, who just wants to continuously smother you with hugs and kisses.

Of course, Mommy is your most favourite person.

Every time you see me, you hold out your arms to be carried. When I am cuddling you, if someone comes to take you from me, you immediately turn away to nuzzle your face to my chest. Code for: If I can't see you, you can't take me away from my Mommy! Sooo sweet...

But being the fantastic baby you are, you don't mind being carried by other people - IF you are not tired/hungry. In fact, you quite like being bounced around by your Papa, the grandparents, and even relative strangers.

Speaking of strangers, you garner a lot of attention whenever we go out. Your hair really is your crowning glory. Crazy and untamed, people stop me to comment on your fluffy tuft.

Because of your eczema, I have been trying to keep it off your face and even considered lobbing it all off. But your Papa just doesn't have the heart to let me chop it off. And so I've been using a variety of clips, ties and headbands to keep the flyawway strands from irritating your skin and causing you to scratch.

You are a busy little baby when you are awake: kicking about, banging around in your activity centre, going for long walks and checking out the scenery. I haven't quite figured out how exactly to play with you so I usually just sit back and watch you entertain yourself.

You have taken to putting everything within reach into your mouth: toys, pillows, blankets, people's fingers, your feet...

I wonder if that could be the reason you got so sick over Christmas. You developed a really bad cough and then caught the flu, which later developed into a bout of bronchitis. Poor little one, you had to go on a nebulizer to ease the cough and help your little lungs recover.

But, thank God, you are all better now and so happy and active.

You have lost a little weight since being ill. Your milk intake really hasn't been that high generally, which has made nursing you fairly painless (except for your first two months when you were drinking crazzzzy amounts!!). So 100% Mommy's milk for the first 6 months of your life - not even a sip of water!

But all that has since changed. Right on the dot, on the 15th January, you got your first taste of food - a teaspoon of cereal. You lapped it all up and since then, you've graduated to eating two tablespoons, twice a day and you always finish your meal!


I'll soon be starting you on more interesting stuff but first, formula!

We're going Organic - at least for the first six months - to see how your skin and body reacts to cow's milk. Because your skin has been so sensitive - despite the initial negative result for cow's milk allergy - we need to take things slowly...

But you loved your first bottle today - not from me coz you still refuse it if I give it to you. Tita Leng offered you 150mls and you drank 110mls. Not bad for your first attempt!

On that note: It's now time to take you out and about for your morning stroll - a bit of Mommy and Emmy time!

Love you kid. Happy half Birthday!