Almost halfway there

Baby D is 5 months old and 4 days old today.

Photos courtesy of The Boy

He starts off each day very sweet and gentle, happy and smiling. I usually have to wake him in the early morning so I can feed him and get him dressed before I drop him off at my parent's house. I love how he stretches and blinks at the light and then opens his mouth for a wide, gummy smile. He's always so glad to see me in the morning and I wish that I could just enjoy the moment and take all the time I want to snuggle him. Fortunately, that's what weekends are made for!



By the end of the day when I get home, he's pretty worn out and crabby so he just wants to nurse and go to bed. My lucky parents get all the sweetness and we get the fussy boy who just wants to be held, to be fed quickly and put to sleep! Hmph!

He's eating a good variety of foods now and we've added green beans and yellow squash into the rotation now. He's eating about two small dishes a day and enjoying it so much that he's often not ready for mealtime to be over. I think he just doesn't recognize a "full" feeling yet and just wants to keep eating until he overflows (which sometimes happens!).



Baby D is definitely developing his own personality including likes and dislikes. He likes looking at The Boy's huge eyes and giggles when The Boy sings in a silly voice. He likes to stand up on his stiff little legs and stomp his feet. He loves taking a bath! He used to like his pacifer but now he just chews on it or spits it right back out.

He hates being laid down by himself if there is nobody else in the room. He gets frustrated when he loses his toy and his hands don't yet know how to grab back ahold of it. He's already turning to me and reaching out his hands when he wants me to pick him up. He gets really mad when an arm or leg gets between the bars of his crib and he can't move it out. He hates when you stop mid-feeding session to burp him.



The copious amount of spit up and drool don't seem to bother him at all but the rest of us are so tired of being slimed. He requires a fresh bib at least once an hour. He almost always has his fingers in his mouth, gnawing away. Wonder when a tooth will finally surface?



We've been having him practice sitting up and he will sit for minutes at a time. Of course we have to be right there, hands at his side in case he decides to bolt backwards, tip over sideways or lean too far forward!

He's really quick at rolling over from back to tummy now, but not as quick to go back the other way. He seems to favor his left, which means he pulls his left arm over and rolls himself to the right. I love when he presses up onto his tummy with straight arms and stretches his neck out to see what everyone is doing.

At night when I lay him down for bed and zip him into his sleeper blanket he turns onto his side and has taken to sucking on his right thumb. Sigh...almost half of a year, I can't believe it.