HAPPY 6TH MONTH BIRTHDAY. Here's a recap of what you did your 5th month.
Week 22 Part 2
-I
was home with you from the 4th of July until the end of the week. It
was nice being home with you again. You are such a joy. We hung out at
the Mannings for 4th of July. We went to bed early and didn't see any
fireworks. Maybe next year when you may be able to appreciate them.
-You
are still eating rice cereal. I had to back off a little because I
think I made you constipated. We both got a little excited with the new
found solid food and went over board. I think I made the cereal too
thick and was feeding you too frequently. One day this week you were
crying so much and I could not do anything to soothe you. You've never
been like that before. You were so upset. You cried nonstop for about
an hour then paused then started crying again.
-Still sleeping through the night
-This
week marked the end of eye goop. Yup, your lacrimal duct is actually
large enough now (and developed enough) where your left eye no longer
gets clogged with goop. Gone are days when you would cry and leave
matter around your eye or fall asleep and wake up looking like one-eyed
Jack. :). I am just happy that your dad and I don't have to keep
irritating you by cleaning your eye every 2 seconds.
-We
visited the home daycare that we would like you to attend at the end of
the summer. You'll be close to 7 months then. Your dad and I like it a
lot for many reasons. The kids seem happy, there are a lot of fun
activities, and more. Of course, it's clean and safe and all that
goodness. It's also close by our home. I like that it's still small
(12 kids) and there will be 1:3 ratio of staff:babies. You'll also be
with other kids and getting some peer interaction. Right now there's no
opening but we are on the list. We are looking into other options,
just in case. There's a regular daycare close by the hospital that your
dad and I work but it's way too expensive. It's a bilingual daycare
but we are not willing to pay all that money when you haven't even
started talking yet.
Week 23
-My
mom and brother are in town from Jamaica and they'll be hanging out
with us the whole summer. They are so in love with you. My mom is
super excited since you are her first grandchild. You frequently
comments about sweet and pleasant you are. And I agree.
-This
week you continue to sit without support. You are so strong. Of
course I have to put you in the seated position but then you stay there
for a long time. You're not able to go from laying to seated position
yet but I'm sure it'll happen soon. You even lean forward and sit up in
the bath tub.
-You
continue to reach for everything in sight and put them in your mouth.
You reach with left and right hand but you seem to favor the left. You
also hold objects with both hands. Your dad said that being a left
handed pitcher would be good some day. I wonder what sports you'll
play. Your dad played everything but mainly baseball. I mainly ran
track. We both were, well ARE, fast and we are sure you will be too.
We can't wait until you are running around so that we can race you!
-You
are still loving your baths. Now that you are older you are enjoying
playing with your bath toys. You prefer the Squirtin' Sea Toys. It's
so fun to watch you play with them. Once again I try to use most of our
interactions for teaching. I want you to view learning as fun. We
name the toys and describe their texture and colors. You smile so big
and laugh so hard when I squirt you with them. I also like placing them
in the water and watch you swat at them or try to pick them up.
Sometimes you grab your feet instead of toys.
-You are still not rolling over (much) but you move forward backwards and rotate when you are on your belly and back.
-You are very loud when you babble.
-In
addition to making cute little "old man faces" you are also crossing
your heel over your knee when you lay on your back. It's the cutest
thing because you look so much older than your age when you do that.
You also do this one-eyebrow-raised-thingy. It's your curious look or
your "mommy you're being silly" look.
-I
think you are teething and it seems like you've been doing it for quite
a few weeks now BUT no tooth has popped out yet. You do this thing
where you make a fist and try to rub your mouth but you miss half the
time. It's so funny to watch. You also slam your mouth on my shoulder
which you find funny and soothing.
-One
of the BIG accomplishments this week is that I started you on real
solid food. I started rice cereal not too long ago, then converted to
oatmeal cereal after a few days (because I read it was less
constipating). You seem to be doing better with this. Also, I've
started you on sweet potato puree. I'm excited because I've
accomplished my goal so far to make you baby food. I bought the Beaba
Babycook and I've been making you food. It's great because it cooks it,
purees it and it can also defrost if necessary. It is so much fun to
watch you try new foods. You initially make a face because of the new
texture and taste (I guess) but then you start loving it. It's
hysterical hearing you grunt because you want more and watch you turn
away when you've had enough. So far you are a good eater. I am so
excited to see you try all the new foods. I was going to wait until 6
months to start you on solids but I was so eager.
-Towards
the end of the week you were refusing solid foods but I think it's
because you had some nasal congestion that lasted 2 days.
-You
are still sleeping through the night (from 7 or 8pm to about 6am). I'm
very thankful for this but I do miss our brief meetings (for feeding)
at night.
-This
week I got to spend a lot of time with you because my workload has been
lighter and will likely be this way for the next year. Thank God.
-FYI:
You have an awesome father. He loves you so much and he's also very
good to me. I am very thankful for him and you. I pray for our family
daily.
Week 24
-Holy
cow I love you. My love for you grows everyday as I get to know you
and I spend more time with you. I think you have such a great
personality. You are seriously a cool kid.
-You
are sooo smiley. You are also laughing out loud a lot more. Your dad
makes you laugh the most. Whenever your dad or I walk by you, you put
on a HUGE gummy grin (of course, still toothless). Your smile is to die
for.
-You
laugh so loud and squeaky whenever we tickle you tummy. Even if we
pretend as we are going to do it, you start cracking up.
-We
introduced another solid food this week, avocado. I think you like
it. For a few days you did not want any solids but I think that was
because you had some nasal congestion. After that was resolved you were
eating again. You like avocado better then sweet potatoes so far. I'm
also still giving you cereal (oatmeal). You make the funniest faces
when you get the sweet potatoes then you spit them out.
-This
week you mimicked your dad for the first time. While I was feeding you
cereal, he was showing you how to chew and you started opening your
mouth and chewing like him. We all celebrated. It was so sweet to
watch. It was not coincidence because you did it several times. You
did it for me once but every time your dad was able to get you to do it.
-You
are not rolling over regularly but you are doing other gross motor
activities. Well, actually you rolled over 2 or 3 times this week.
Anyway, you are sitting up unsupported for a long period of time. Also
in the bath, you refuse to be reclined. You sit forward then hold on to
the sides, pull yourself up (sometimes on your knees or feet), then
hang over the side. You think it's so funny and you laugh whenever you
do it.
-You still get a kick out of looking at yourself in the mirror.
-You are "talking so much" and very loud too.
-Fingers and everything you can get your hands on go in your mouth.
-You
are still nursing pretty ok. You get distracted sometimes and I have
to go to a quiet area to feed you. You are just so social.
-This
week you've been napping a lot better than last week. We decided to
swaddle you for naps (although you're kinda too old) because you nap
longer that way. We think naps are important and we want you take more
than 20 minutes at a time. Because you are napping better during the
daytime we also notice that you are sleeping better at night.
-We
are so proud of you and you give us so much joy. We feel very blessed
and honored to be your parents. We will work very hard to raise you
well and to be good role models. We hope to make you proud some day.
-So
scratch what I said above about not rolling over. Starting mid week
you've been a rolling mad man. It's so adorable to watch and I got one
of your first back to belly roll on camera. You've been rolling every
time I try to change your diaper. Whenever I pick up your legs, you
roll then end up doing this head stand thing. It's so fun to watch.
You've also been pushing forward on your belly. I guess crawling is one
of your major upcoming milestones.
Week 25
--
OMG, you are the sweetest, cutest, smiliest, bestest baby ever. Gosh,
you smile for everything AND it's the best smile I've ever seen. It
brightens my day.
--
You smile the biggest when you see your dad. It's so cute how you
watch your dad when he enters the room. You fuss when you see me
because you want me to hold you BUT you smile and laugh when you see
daddy.
-- You've been reaching your arms out to me to pick you up. It's so cute.
--
This week you enjoyed eating bananas mixed rice cereal and breast
milk. I think that's your favorite solid food so far. After a few days
of this, I also introduced you to prunes because you had a few days
without a BM. I've been making baby food for you at home so far, except
for the prunes. We used Earth's Best which you seem to like. You also
like their cereal too.
-- This week you are continuing to sit up without support and leaning forward as if to crawl.
-- You actually started doing this funny looking crawl thing. It's so awesome to watch.
--
You still love your baths but now they are more difficulty because you
try to bite the side of the bath tub, try to stand up, hang over the
side. You are a trip.
-- I had my first bad mommy moment with you this week that I'll have to tell you about some day.
--
You are still sleeping well at night, anywhere from 10-12 hours
straight through. You also nap on average 45 minutes to 90 minutes. I
think this helps with keeping your personality pleasant. You are also
so smart and alert.
-- You make faces that look exactly like your mommies. It's kind of weird to see. My mom points it out every time you do it.
--
We still think you look more like daddy. You still have straight brown
hair (although you sometimes have a little curl in the front). Those
big brown eyes get me every time. Your little lips and nose are so
sweet. I love those little fingers and toesies too.
--
Still nursing and also giving you expressed milk. Recently you've been
gumming down whenever you nurse. Hopefully you'll quit doing that
before you get teeth.
--
This week was the opening ceremony of the 2012 Olympics. Mommy is
filled with so much excitement especially over track. Your mommy always
wanted to compete in the Olympics for track (100m, 200m) but instead
focused on school. Your dad and I hope that one day you will go to the
Olympics. That would be cool.
-- Actually we want you to do what you like, just as long as you work hard at it. We'll support you as long as it's honest.
Week 26
-- We love you so much our little smiley boy. You are just so pleasant.
It's great to be around you. You always have a huge smile on your
face. When someone walks up to you they are greeted by that STILL
toothless grin. However your daddy makes you smile the biggest. It's
so sweet to watch you two together.
--
You are pulling up to a stand, especially in the bath tub. We have to
be extremely careful because you have no sense of danger (except for
freaking out when the blender is on then you let out a loud scream which
is actually so funny)
--This week you are enjoying your solid foods.
I can't believe how much you are eating and you grunt to let us know
when you want more. This week you really like the prunes and sweet
peas.
--
So far you've tried sweet potatoes, bananas, carrots, prunes, sweet
peas. And of course, rice and oatmeal cereal. We plan to try apples,
butternut squash, peaches soon. So far, I love making you baby food AND
you like eating them.
-- I've been feeding you 3 solid food meals per day. This has been you're schedule. One bottle (5 oz) or nurse every 3 hours
+ bananas mixed with breast milk 1 hour after 2nd meal + Earth's Best
prunes 1 hour after 3rd meal + homemade baby food for last meal (after
nursing).
--
I wonder if you're starting to experience a little separation anxiety.
You are clinging to me more and want to be held by me all the time.
You'll spend a few seconds to minutes with someone else but then you are
ready to come back to me. If you hear my voice but don't see me you
kind of freak out. I know this is just one of your many interesting
phases. And you've also been reaching out towards me when you want me
to pick you up. You're so smart
--
You are still sitting up well without support. Sometimes you lean
forward and get on your knees but you don't stay there for very long.
For the past 2 weeks or so, you've been doing the military crawl. You
are very vocal but we can't make sense of any of your sounds, although
some of them sound similar.
--
You love watching our dogs act silly. We go outside almost daily so
that you can observe them. They usually make you smile or laugh. They
try to come up to you but I only let them lick your feet.
--
My mom comments about how smart you are because you are so well
behaved, especially in public. It's like you know you're not at home so
you have to conduct yourself in a certain manner :). You don't fuss or
whine--you mainly smile and observe your surroundings.
--
Naps have been a little challenging this week because you want to be
social. You are still sleeping through the night but you wake up
early.
--
This week we researched childcare options and found a place for you.
It's a home daycare and the woman keeps up to 4 kids (you'll be number
3). She seems very sweet and the home is safe. The other 2 kiddos seem
very happy and they like you. I think it will be a good fit. I do
worry about whether or not he'll get any educational exposure. I also
worry about what appears to be complete lack of structure (especially
for a control freak like myself). The good thing is that she's sweet
and flexible and is willing to put up with some of my madness. Our main
concern is that you are well taken care of and are safe.
-- Your dad and I love everything about you. We feel very blessed to be your parents. I hope you stay sweet, like your dad.
Mrs. K
Mrs. K
