Matotea's first six months

bIt's been an action packed six months, Matotea has grown 20cm and almost tripled in body weight. She's already got quite a lot of personality and is clearly a good strong healthy Rurutu girl! Here's a quick review and an excuse for posting more baby shots.

The first month
To be honest not too much happened in the first month beyond A LOT of sleeping and a lot of growing, it was a 'getting to know each other' sort of a phase. I think she can be forgiven for this, because making the initial step from here.......







...to here, can be considered quite an achievement. It's hard to believe that she was ever really this teeny tiny!

The second month
Even more feeding and growing went on this second month, she put on over 1.3kg, quite an achievement. The signature quiff arrived as well as the grandparents!

The third month
Our arrival in her 'fenua' Rurutu and the ensuing social whirl ......









She got to meet some of the other members of her clan, including Uncle John, who met with general approval.

She played a starring role in the wedding.....

She celebrated her first Christmas with both her grandmas....

She hung out at the beach...

...had her first horseride...

.

..enjoyed splashing in the tub...

became mesmerized by blue and yellow fish...

...and decided to keep the signature quiff.

The fourth month
The grandparents bade us a reluctant farewell....

.....and she started to bust out the charm

Playtime started for real...

the quiff went soft-look.....

..and we all got a well-deserved chance to kick-back and relax in the hammock...





The fifth month
Matotea decided it was time to get in on the grown up food thing and try some solids.

We packed our bags for the island of Niau in the Tuamotus, for baby's first fieldwork and our first time on an atoll.






Matotea enjoyed looking out the window during the hour long flight, though she and dad found it a bit chilly onboard!

Rainwater is a precious resource in Niau, there is no running freshwater on the island.so she relished her limited bathing opportunities.


She got all dressed up in her sunday best, for a delicious Ma'a Tahiti, Tuamotu style.






The sixth month
From being declared obese at her four month checkup Matotea put the brakes on her weight gain and just became super active instead, and while sh'es still pretty heavy, 8.25kg at sixth months, a diet won't be necessary!!!! This is good because she really likes food.....wonder where she got that from...

I can't get over how alert she is, she's engaged by everything, and there's clearly more than a little frustration involved in her desire to know and do everything right away. She notices so much, she loves going into the garden and grabbing at leaves, big ferns or palm leaves are a favorite. She was watching the rain fall on the car window yesterday. She wants grown up food from the table, she considers babyfood, just like toys, a momentary distraction! She likes books and magazines (so that she can drool over the pages and mash them up a bit), computer keyboards to bang and chew, and basically anything unsuitable for small hands.

Roll on the next six months!