The First Six

Dear Jace,

Happy half Birthday, my little man.
Six months. I can hardly believe it... I still snuggle you and smell your head the same way I did six months ago, so it seems crazy for you to be anything but a tiny little new born.  But you are much more than a tiny little new born, that's for sure. I love the little place you have made for yourself, and how you spread yourself around, you love snuggling with me, you love watching Maizey and laughing with her and you love talking to Daddy. I can hardly remember what it was like before you arrived.
You are quite the little character. You smile and laugh so easily and for anyone. I can't get enough of your little (but big) personality.
You have made us much more attentive to things like time, more specifically, what time of the day it is. You put yourself on a schedule and heaven forbid anyone try to stray from it. You, my friend, like your meals ON TIME!! Naps? ON TIME!! Wake up calls? ON TIME!! We don't mess with the timing because *you* are craaaaanky if we do.
Your hours of sleep at night are erratic and unpredictable - I never know what the hours between 10:30pm and 6:00am hold for me.... will it be a night of five times? Or will it be seven, heavenly hours of sleep? I can never tell. You'll figure it out, I try not to get too concerned with it.
You started eating rice cereal a week ago and you love it. LOVE. Water? well, lets just say you haven't got the hang of it yet, so it literally, just dribbles out of your mouth. Carrots were new two days ago and a few bites will do and then you are SO over them. I love this part, where we get to experiment with new foods and watch the hilarious faces of a mouth that has never tasted things so yummy, or as the case may be, disgusting.
You are a sitter. It makes it so much more fun for Maizey to play with you.
You cut your first tooth on March 3rd and your second today. That first one is a jagged little sucker. Trust me, I know.
You still hate being on your tummy, but could lay on your back all day.
Your favorite place to be is definitely still the jolly jumper. You can jump for hours on end, you spin around and squeal in happiness. You are so funny to watch when you jump! with! enthusiasm!
You roll from your tummy to your back but not yet from your back to your tummy.
You still love the carseat and riding around in it. As long as we are moving, you are happy. This makes road trips with you super easy, which is a good thing, because we are a road tripping kind of family.
You love Sophie giraffe as much as Maizey did and you are partial to those silicon brushes that are used in the kitchen. You find them oddly mysterious and super cool at the same time. You could look at them, rub them on your face and run your fingers through them endlessly. I still maintain that toys are stupid and kitchen tools are much more fun. You agree.
You can't sit in the bumbo anymore because you just pop yourself out and hit your head on the floor and there's crying and danger, so unless we are going to hold you in, you just can't be trusted in there.
You sometimes cry a lot and other times you laugh real little belly laughs. We love making you laugh, hearing you laugh and seeing you laugh. It's contagious, we all laugh right alongside you.
You have a bond with your sister that I never expected and am thrilled to see. She loves you so much, she is gentle and kind to you. She rubs your hand and says 'whats the matter buddy? I'm here, its okay.' if you are crying and I don't get to you fast enough. She gets your soother and hands your stuff back if you drop it. You watch her and listen to her and pay attention to every little thing she does. In the mornings, one of you ALWAYS wakes the other up and you talk and laugh until I come to get you. She is usually in your bed with you. She reads to you and you listen intently. I watch your relationship grow and while I would be crazy to think you will never fight, for right now, I love watching how well you get along. You truly do love one another.
We have been working on teaching you to wave. You got it about a week ago and we have Grannie as our witness. You do it often for me,  not often for Daddy and absolutely never for anyone else. You make a liar out of me on a daily basis, so I would really appreciate it if you would just do it for someone else already, okay?

Well, my buddy, I just wanted you to know that these last six months have brought us laughter, fun, cheers and love.
Six months, friend. We can't wait to see what the next six brings us.
I can hear you calling me from your bed. I better hurry, don't want you to wake Missy up.

We love you to the moon and back, Jace.

Love Mommy (and of course Daddy, but again, he was no help in writing this, so he only gets a small amount of credit.)