05/30/11 6 months and some odd days
I’ve decided that I’m done with counting the weeks. It has just become too tedious and 6 months seems like enough of a milestone that I feel like I can stick with months now rather than weeks. Jackson has been a part of our life for half a year. Yikes!
Before I had Jackson I started reading What to Expect the First Year. I remember reading all the things a baby would be able to do by 6 months and thinking that if I can just make it to 6 months I’ll be golden. I think I was partially afraid of the first 6 months. There is so much to worry about: colic, higher rates of SIDS, rolling over into fluffy objects and not being able to breath, supporting the head, sleeping through the night, and sunburn.
Now that we’ve hit the 6 month mark I feel like we’ve got some handle on this baby thing. I lather him up in sunscreen, grab the diaper bag and am out the door in under 30 minutes, which at one time seemed nearly impossible. I remember a time when running a simple errand seemed to be a whole day event. A simple trip to Target thwarted by a colicky baby who only had about an hour window from the beginning of one nap till the start of the next. I remember driving home from the mall with Jackson screaming the whole way. I would turn the radio up hoping that the music would sooth him, I would sing, he would scream louder. I tried the country station he screamed louder. Finally a Pit Bull song came on and he quieted, then Katy Perry and by the time Lady Gaga was belting out Born this Way he was silent. John and I soon knew all the words to every Katy Perry and Lady Gaga song. Something about pop music tends to sooth him. Whatever, I can’t blame the kid who hasn’t lost themselves in some Gaga? But after those trips I would come in the house drop the diaper bag and feed Jackson, then I would begin the 45 minute swaddle, side, swing, shush, suck routine that had become the only way to get him to sleep. Then after I gently placed him in the crib I would pray. Pray that my tired eyed little boy would nap.
And while the prayer for a nap hasn’t changed the rest of the scenario has. Outings are more spontaneous, we can go more places, the weather is beautiful, colic is a memory. And now the moment I have waited for has arrived. Jackson can ride in a shopping cart. I’m so excited by this because it means I won’t have to bring a stroller to the store. I have never been one for balancing the car seat precariously on top of the cart. I just couldn’t do it, I was too afraid he would fall. Even if I had wanted to do it I couldn’t because the Chicco car seat is bulky and doesn’t fit on top of most carts, it doesn’t even fit in some carts.
So life, while still hectic and unpredictable, has gotten slightly easier at 6 months. Maybe it’s just Jackson’s wonderful personality shining through but he seems to be one happy little 6 month old and for that I am grateful.
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