Five Months Old!

Little Lew is FIVE months old today! This past month definitely went by faster than the previous one (perhaps because I was sick for 2/3 of it). Anyway, we are healthy and happy again.

Five Months Old

(and my shirt says 'Bean Blossom'--from Ben and Adie)

His stats (according to BabyCenter again this month, not the doctor's office):

Head Size: 18.25 inches (above the 95th percentile)

Length: 27.5 inches (between 90-95th percentile)

Weight: 19.3 pounds (between 75-90th percentile--trimming up a bit since last month!)

What he is doing this month:

• He is ticklish! We can get a good giggle out of him by tickling him in his ribs or by blowing raspberries (is the proper term when you face plant and make loud fart-like noises on his belly?).
• He has also started to laugh a lot at the dogs the past few days, especially Peter. Peter has been giving kisses on Lewis' face, feet, and hands and has been letting Lewis pet him and grab some fists full of hair. Lew loves it. Hattie is still avoiding him when he is up close, but both dogs like to come and lay in whichever room we are in (especially when we're nursing in his room).
• He suddenly has leg hair! I just noticed it glistening in the sunlight the other day. He is becoming a little man. :)
• His hair is slowly lightening to blonde! It still looks fairly brown from far away, but up close and/or in the sunlight, it glistens.
• The past week or so he seems to have mastered the back-to-front roll AND the front-to-back roll both pretty fluidly. He is still waking himself up at night, but I think it's getting better (and that he's awakening for different reasons--see next).
• He is ever-so-slightly mobile. He spins on his belly, depending on where his toys are, whether the TV is on, where I am, etc. He scootches off of his blanket to get a stray toy. At night, this translates into him getting stuck either in the corner of his crib or perpendicular in his crib (so his head and feet are both banging the edges). He can't quite figure out how to back out of the corner or free himself from the perpendicular stick-age yet, so we're still working on that.
• He is now taking three naps a day instead of four. He was on 4 naps at 45 mins. each like clockwork there for a few months, it seemed. Now it is more like one for an hour, one for two hours (maybe), and maybe 45 mins. at the end of the day. He still seems to be adjusting to this new groove because he doesn't go down as easily as he used to. I'm considering this a time of transition. :)
• He loves to grab at things such as cups, sunglasses, hair, ears, noses, mouths, dogs, toys, etc.
• He found his 'friend' in the mirror next to his changing table the other night when Kevin was getting him ready for bed. He had rolled over and was staring at himself in the mirror, smiling, whacking the mirror, etc.
• Speaking of bedtime, we have gradually pushed his bedtime routine back to begin at 7:30pm (from 9, 8:30, 8, 7:45). Kevin changes him into his pajamas, reads to him, and then I come in to nurse him, and then put him to bed. [After he starts eating solids, we'll probably add a bath in there, too.] He is usually down and out by 8pm. He's been waking up 2 times a night. Usually around 2 or 3am, then again at like 6 or 7 am. I've been reading about night weaning and sleep training, but for now I've decided to try just offering him one side to see how that goes. He doesn't seem to have a problem with it so far--he goes right back down afterwards. I try to keep his 'wake-up time' to 8 or 8:15am. If he wakes up past 7:30, though, I just consider him up for the day and don't even mess with trying to get him to 8 o'clock.
• He is officially moving to his big boy carseat this weekend. He is just too heavy for me to carry to/from the car and hoist in and out of the car. I have been practicing with the Ergo the past week or so, and I love it and he does pretty well in it. I can definitely see myself wearing him comfortably for much longer than I ever could in the Baby Bjorn. It has always hurt my back--probably because of my poor posture. Regardless, the Ergo works best for me. And we bought an umbrella stroller on clearance before he was born, so I'm going to keep that in the car for non-Ergo occasions and put the trusty, best-$30-I-ever-spent-on-craigslist, Snap 'n Go in storage along with the infant seat and base. :) Oh, and we practiced with the highchair (one of my concerns with ditching the infant seat) at home and out at a restaurant last weekend. At home was great because it has a full harness to hold him upright. At the restaurant, he spent a lot of time leaning back to look up at all of the ceiling fans or falling forward, so we spent most of the meal bracing him upright. He'll get better at it though. In Target, Kroger, etc., I'll have to Ergo-It because I know he isn't able to sit in a cart yet.
• He seems to be a fan of 80s music. We went to see Super 8 last weekend while my parents were down visiting (and babysitting), and I came home with My Sharona in my head all week...and there it is again! Dang it! Oh well...he likes it. :)

Happy Friday!