Falling asleep without Mommy: the impossible

Last night, another miracle--Caitlin fell asleep on her own. Kelvin put her in the cot and she fell asleep on her own after playing for a little while. On the one hand, I was elated. On the other hand, I felt a little sad that she didn't need to suckle and that our special time of closeness would come to an end eventually. She sleeps a lot better now. By 9.30pm she's out and she only wakes once or twice through the night. This gives me some time to myself in the evenings. She's also not as jumpy anymore. Every day I pray for her to sleep better. Part of it is also that she's more alert during the day and we can engage her more. This means that she getting into a pattern of regular nap time during the day so she sleeps better at night.

She's 5 and a half months old today. Recently, she's begun licking me deliberately. She does it occasionally with Grandma Dolly but it's mostly me that she licks. She'll latch on to my chin and start slobbering away. The maids think she's "kissing mommy". I do feel like she's doing it out of affection for me. Then again, who knows? Maybe she just wants "nan nan" (milk). Here she is Caitlin "kissing" Mommy.

Kelvin took this shot of Caitlin and the shot below. She can now lift her entire chest off the surface of the bed. Sometimes, she'll push up with her arms. She's also begun playing by herself. I'll place her on a thin mattress on the floor and she'll immediately flip over. Then she'll pull and chew on a colourful activity mat. She particularly likes licking her reflection in a little mirror that comes with the mat.
Still not a lot of hair on the top of her head. It is growing in but it's all very short fine hair at the moment.

Grandma Dolly brought the whole family out. Since we forgot the pram so we had to borrow cousin Ellie's push-chair. It was actually really windy so we had to cover Caitlin up.