Little Baby PAW: 5 months

I feel like every month that passes I find myself saying, "This is the funnest age!" And its true, every month gets better and better. But I don't wish it would go faster.

Some highlights from your 5th month of life...

You role over all.the.time. You prefer going from your back to your stomach and you get frustrated often when you get 'stuck' on your stomach, even though we've seen you go from stomach to back. You smash your face in the ground and drool a lot when you want help turning back over, but then you're right back on your tummy a few seconds later. Everyday I tell myself I'm not going to help you anymore, but its so hard when you're frustrated!

You're started sitting up a little. Some days its amazing how balanced you are, and other days you are just not having it and you're a little jell-o baby.

A couple days ago dad had you standing against the ottoman, the only thing touching it were your forearms and hands. He let go of you for a few seconds and you stayed on your feet. Nowhere near standing (or crawling) yet, which I'm thankful its not time to baby proof, but still fun to see the day to day changes.

There have been a few times where you realize you don't know everyone. You've always been happy meeting new people. But every once in a while you're a little sceptical about new faces and you just want your mom.

You're back to sleeping 9-10 hours a night. There were a couple nights over a 2 week period where you woke up around 4AM for a snack. I was a little worried you were entering a new phase of early morning wake ups. We've started doing the swaddle again (we quite for a couple weeks). I think I figured out the problem, you were too hot before and that's why you fought the swaddle so much (I think). Now we have a fan in your room. Not blowing on you, but just keeping the air flow going, the room a little cooler, and it provides a soothing sound. We 'baby burrito' you around 10PM, feed you either on the porch in the cool air or sitting in front of the fan, and you generally fall right to sleep and you stay that way until between 7:30 and 8:30.

And about you being hot. You really are a hot baby. You often leave a sweat mark on the head rest of your car seat, when its really not that hot when we're out and about. Your back is often warm and damp after your naps, and your hair even sometimes gets a bit wet from sweat on normal and even cool days. 'Normal' being low to mid 60s. I've started dressing you in less and bringing socks, jackets and blankets when we go out because you really don't enjoy being hot and you never feel cold. We heard someone make a comment a couple nights ago when we took you out in a onesie to get some frozen yogurt. A women with some friends said "Oh that poor baby must be so cold." It made your dad really mad. Me, not so much. That's one thing I'm learning as a mom. Everyone has a lot to say, but no one knows better than me whats best for my kid, so things like that don't bother me.

The solid food process is going pretty well. Its made you a little constipated, but we're figuring it out. Most days its pretty easy and you (kind of) sit still, you open your mouth when you see the spoon coming, and you swallow when the food gets in your mouth. But then once in a while, you do this:

...I would do the same thing if someone made me eat prunes.

You're so much fun to be around, and easy to entertain. (Sometimes I can't believe how much we've spent on fancy toys when I see how well a paper cup, a pretzel rod, or a mylar balloon entertains you.)

You laugh from the gut now and its the best sound ever.

You 'talk' all the time too. Last night your Aunt Laura kept saying, "He's going to be an early talker." and "He wants to talk so bad!" You make the most interesting sounds and when we watch you, it really looks like you want us to understand you!

You are mildly obsessed with your fingers and you're figuring out that you have toes too. Its pretty cute watching you examine all these new parts you keep finding.

You grab everything you can reach, (and we're sometimes amazed at how far you reach). We learned the hard way on that one with the bowl of chocolate covered raisins all over the floor and coffee table, a glass of ice water all over the counter, and a hand full of Mexican food at a restaurant.

You're good at arching your back and sliding your bum down if you're sick of sitting somewhere. You almost fell out of your bouncer doing it one day, so now I always buckle you in. Here is a picture I caught of you trying to escape. You were so far forward that I'm sure you would have face planted if you weren't buckled. And Katie and I caught you arching your back and trying to roll out of you car seat before we buckled it! I can't imagine how much chasing I'll be doing once you become mobile...