u/Electrical_Sleep5376

I know babies develop at their own pace, and I'm trying not to do the freak out thing if one milestone is a little late or early. But when it comes to expressive language, my 5.5 month old is so all over the place, it makes me just want to reach out to see if there's testing or intervention warranted or if anyone's seen something similar.

She was only 4 months old when she started lifting both arms to be held or picked up- whether in response to someone holding out arms to her, or if she was in her bouncer and didn't want to be anymore, so she'd initiate. Other communication followed quickly. She claps her hands together (or holds my hands and makes them clap) for patty-cake, moves her hands wide when asked "How big is [NAME]," and does some of the movements for "This is big, big, big, this is small small small,.. etc" she signs all done and waves "hi." When you ask her if she wants to sit or stand up, she immediately puts out her arms, looking for your fingers to pull up.

All of this is so much earlier than I've seen before. And I'd be just really happy and enjoy her and not posting what sounds like a humble brag on the internet if it wasn't juxtaposed with the fact that she just barely started cooing this week (so great to finally hear that sweet voice), no "dinosaur like" screeching, still hasn't laughed, babbled, blown raspberries, etc. She is very smiley. Eye contact is good.

All her other gross/fine motor skills are mostly on target. But the communication one is weird to me since it seems both very ahead and very behind at the same time. I know that until one, a lot of people count any signed words the same as spoken words when figuring out expressive communication milestones. But she's so behind when it comes to anything oral. Could it be she needs testing? She passed her newborn hearing screen, and I think clearly understands enough based on her responses to questions. Brain seems like it's working just fine. Could it be something else? Should I push for a speech assessment, early intervention? Anyone seen this before? Mentioned no cooing or laughing at 4 month check-in, and ped noted it, but it wasn't enough for referrals at that point.

I know this might sound crazy, but she's several months behnd on some of these, and I just can't figure out why.

We just moved into a new home and I'm a little giddy, because I've lived in an apartment all my life. I am ok keeping indoor plants alive, but I have no idea where to even begin outdoor. There are a lot of plants in my yard already (we're along the Rio Grande and get more water than is typical for the desert) Over the next year, I'll have to explore how to care for them and hopefully add more/start a vegetable garden. But we moved in yesterday and there's a place for an outdoor hanging plant by the front door that would be completely shaded all day (covered walkway), and then five identical circular planters that are about 2 feet tall and 18 inches in diameter that line the outer edge of our mostly covered back porch. I'd love to plant something beautiful. The five planters are identical, but they get different sun amounts- the outer two don't benefit from half coverage of the covered patio and are full sun. The middle three are partial sun. If it helps, the past owner said she planted marigolds in them every year, but they only really took off in the outer two and lived but struggled in the middle three.

What would you plant? I'm leaning towards something different in every pot. But want to make sure I don't overcrowd, and if different plants, pick plants that need the same amount of water in the same pot. I can be diligent in caring for things, it will just be a big learning curve, as this whole area is new to me.

Open to succulents, perennials, annuals. whatever. It'd be ideal to have a variety of things so there's always something blooming/looking pretty. But I'm ok with slowly tweaking it. I just want something cheerful, that I could plant immediately, that reflects my happiness with having our own home and bit of land finally 😄

So thoughts?

What for the front door hanging plant?
What for the five planters lining the back porch? (If you could guide on which should be grouped together that'd be amazing).