Ashley is 5 1/2 months old now and man, is she developing a personality.  She is so cute to me!  And I don’t mean just her adorably good looks, but her sweet personality, too.  Here’s a list of what she likes and doesn’t like:

–She likes to suck her thumb.

–She likes to watch the dogs and will reach out to pet them.

–She likes to kick her legs and will kick so much she can scoot herself off of the activity mat.

–She likes to “fake” cough.  You’ve probably heard other babies do this.  She’s not sick, but she’ll cough.  And once she hears herself cough, she’ll do it again.

–She likes to talk and scream.  She screams with gleeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!

–She likes to feel your face if you get close to her.  She especially likes touching Van’s goatee.  And if you get your nose close enough, she’ll try to bite it.  I use the term “bite” very loosly.  She doesn’t have teeth, mind you, so it’s more like gumming it.

–She likes sleeping with her arms up and legs out.  She’s always slept this way.

–She likes sucking on her lips.  It’s very cute.  I have a picture of me doing the same thing when I was 8 months old.

–She likes loves what we call her “magic rings”.  It’s a set of about 10 rings that have different textures.  They are the perfect size for her to hold and put in her mouth.  We take them with us everywhere we go because they keep her occupied.  I bought teething rings for her but she would rather chew on her magic rings.

–She likes lifting her legs up and putting her feet together.  She does this a lot laying in her pack-n-play.  You’ll see her little legs sticking straight up in the air and she’ll touch the bottom of her feet together.

She is very active now.  She kicks, wails her arms, and wiggles.  Sometimes she wails her arms so much that she hits her little tummy.  And she’ll do it over and over and over again.  She is definitely going to be a little busy bee.  She just can’t seem to sit still nowadays.  Even when changing her diaper she is kicking.  She either kicks her heals down real hard, or rubs her heals so much it wears away on the changing pad.  And of course, everything goes in her mouth now.  Be careful if she gets a hold of your finger.  She’ll pull it right into her mouth.  And when she gets tired, she rubs her face with her palm open.  She’ll close her eyes, roll her head from side to side, rub over her eyes and nose and kick her feet really hard.  I must get a video of this because it is so freakin’ cute! 

As for things she doesn’t like, the list isn’t very long…

–She doesn’t like tummy time.  She is getting better and will tolerate it longer, but she would rather lay on her back where she can move around more.

–She doesn’t like being held like a newborn (sideways in your arms).  She hasn’t liked this for a while now actually.  You have to hold her upright so she can look around.

–She doesn’t like clothes going over her head.  If you take too long putting a shirt on over her head, she’ll freak out.  She doesn’t like not being able to see, even for a brief moment.

As you can see, her “like” list is a lot longer than her “not like” list.  She is a very happy, content, and playful baby.  Her smile is contagious and she makes us laugh every single day! 

Here is a video that I took yesterday morning.  This is what she does while I’m eating breakfast and drinking my coffee.  Notice a) her wild fluffy hair b) that she has almost scooted herself off the play mat and c) that is Toby laying next to her, when I stand up from the recliner to move he groans in annoyance.  Oh, and she puts her feet together at the end   Enjoy!