In the Pudding Club: Sixieme mois avec Mademoiselle Eloise

Eloise –

6 months kiddo. Half a year. So far I’d have to say this last month has been my favorite. You are quickly turning into a little person with her own personality. The other day you made your first “joke”. Usually it is either your father or me (or another relative) who will do some ridiculous face accompanied by some puerile noise and you crack up like you’re watching Buster Keaton for the first time. The other day you twisted your body in my arms, leaned your head back, pretended to eat my neck and then laughed hysterically. Which of course made me crack up. You would then right yourself. Lean back and do it all again. This went on for a solid 5 minutes – both of us hysterical with laughter by the end of it. 6 months old and you’re a comic.

You are also becoming more of a handful (and more fun!) to look after.

Last night I placed you on your play mat and asked your Father to keep an eye on you while I made you dinner. 10 minutes later I walk back into the room, your Father is immersed in Google Earth and you have rolled off of the mat and under the sofa to hang with the dust bunnies. You are a lady on the go these days. Turning your body 360° in your crib, rolling this way and that.

Feeding you solid foods has gone much better than I expected. After the whole refusal to take a bottle or anything other than breast-milk I was imagining quite a battle when I first offered you puréed carrot on a spoon. Instead you rather casually accepted the orange mash and slowly but calmly ate your first meal. Even the fact that 3 grandparents, 2 parents and 1 aunt watched your every move didn’t bother you.

If only getting you to sleep through the night were this easy, huh Eloise?

Everyone knows that mothers are blinded by the light they think shines out of their offspring’s butt. Hell, I’ve created an entire blog almost purely dedicated to the sun that lives in your ass. So it was very vindicating to go to France and have every one else who met you fall in love too. The spell you cast is wide my dear – it appears that no one is exempt from your charms.

I have moments nearly every day, despite the sleep deprivation and dried broccoli mash caked on my sleeve, that I feel a sense of excitement so strong it is almost like stage freight. Being your mother is the most intense, warm and inspiring feeling. You grow and learn and react more and more each day. It is like I am always just about to perform in front of an audience, waiting with my stomach in my throat just off stage-right watching you unfold in the spotlight.

And I cannot wait to see what you’ll do in the next act.