And that’s reason to celebrate!  Smush passed a serious marker.  And so did I.  I made it through 6 months of dual descendant daddy duty.  Hooray for me!  (Look, I’m only a couple of days late with this blog post.  Cut me some slack.  I’m busy!)

I wish I could say that I’ve been counting all the baby skills and checking the boxes to make sure Smushter is keeping up pace with those in her age range.  But, I’m not.  I couldn’t even say what the 6 month milestone targets are right now.  Checking boxes off of the developmental milestone list have given way to “Don’t jab the TV with the vacuum cleaner handle, Worm!” and “Worm, stop hitting the dogs with your baby stroller!”.  It’s much more difficult to sit around and stare at my baby girl hanging on the moment she does something cool.  Because the second my eyes are off of the Worm, he will negate everything and do something uncool.

I can, though, compare her and her brother’s important skillsets at around the 6 month age:

Holding a bottle – Worm did this around 4 months old.  By the time he was 6 months old, he was spinning bottles on his fingertips.  Smushie is just now being forced learning to hold a bottle with two hands and put it to her mouth, or eye, or nose, or in the general vicinity of her face.  ADVANTAGE – WORM

Sleeping – The two of them have been great sleepers since a couple of months old.  Worm used to make me rock him to sleep at night after feedings and was a bit difficult to burp.  I can look at Smush and she burps…and farts, and drools.  ADVANTAGE – SMUSH

Mobility – Worm crawled on Christmas day.  Which was a pretty cool gift from him to us.  It took him ~9 months.  Smush has decided that she wants to crawl by next week.  She spends all her waking moments doing one of two things:  staring at Worm and getting up on all fours.  Her efforts will pay off soon and she will shave off ~3 months from Worm’s time.  ADVANTAGE – SMUSH

Sitting – I don’t know why we obsessed with getting Worm to sit up in the Bumbo so early.  By the time he was 6 months old, he could easily sit up without any assistance or use of duct tape.  Smushie on the other hand, eats too many Twinkies and Bon Bons.  The girl’s too chubby to do much more than leave a dent in the carpet.  But that chub is so cuddly!  Speaking of cuddly…   ADVANTAGE – WORM

Cuddling – Worm has the name because of his insane wiggling ability.  As an infant, he couldn’t sit still for more than 15 minutes in my arms.  (I really don’t blame him.  My arms are pretty bony and have the plushness of plywood.)  Smushels is the definition of cuddly.  I could hold that baby forever and she’d just look me in the face and pee on my arm.  She doesn’t mind my pointy elbows.  (She’s got so much ‘insulation’, she probably can’t feel them.)  The only thing stopping me from using that girl as my pillow is that she claws everything within arms range.  I like my eyes.  ADVANTAGE – SMUSH

Although it’s not a contest, we tallied up all the skills and Smush is the winner (3-2) and the best baby in the house!  For coming in 1st place, she gets a lifetime supply of mommy’s milk!  And for coming in 2nd place, Worm gets a used toilet bowl brush along with the opportunity to try even harder to become the best baby in the house!  Hooray!

As a side note, it’s really quite interesting to reflect upon the differences between the two kids from zero to 6 months of age.  Worm did very few of the little baby things during this time, where as Smush has done quite a few:  coo, look into our eyes, smile, mimic tongue movements, grab her toes, grasp everything with a death grip, put stuff in her mouth, etc.

When I look at the beautiful young woman that she has become, I’m reminded that she will always be my little girl…and even though she’s getting married today…oops.  Hold on.  Wrong notes.

Ok, let me try again.  When I see her little face and it lights up my world, I am reminded that nothing engages, moves, and defines us as human more than giving and receiving love.