William: Five Months!

Our little buddy is a whooping five months old! And what a big boy he is getting to be! I've officially retired all of his three-month clothing; it's probably something I should have done a few weeks ago, but I'd prefer to have his clothes fitting more on the snug side than the loose side, so I kept him in them even when they were a little small (for the record--this isn't just a baby thing. Darrell did a major wardrobe rehaul the first few years we were dating. All through high school and during his years at GT he bought clothes a size or two too large for him so that he could "grow into" them. Needless to say, that never happened. So after some encouragement from me, he finally started buying clothes in the appropriate size--and it was a great improvement!). William is still managing to squeeze into size two diapers, although as soon as we finish the package that is currently open we're moving up to size three. Every time he poops I feel like we are flirting with a potential blowout disaster. No official stats on height or weight, although he's definitely still growing like a weed (and it seems like his length is starting to overtake his weight--we've had to put him in long-sleeves a few times recently, and while they are baggy on his body, they are a few inches short on the arms. Who knew Darrell and I would have a "tall" kid?)

William continues to be fairly easy going; I can't really think of anything in particular that routinely makes him upset (baths used to do that, but we finally figured out that he just didn't like the bath chair we were using and now bath time is a blast!), although when he gets tired he goes from happy-go-lucky to screaming in a heartbeat. His sleep bounced back pretty quickly after a rough stretch right around four months, although I'm not holding my breath that it will last; I've heard the six-month growth spurt is a doozy, plus the growth spurt will likely coincide with his next Wonder Week (and--if the stars align properly--both with overlap with my state soccer tournament. Joy).

The biggest new development is that we now have a sitter! I mentioned during our Labor Day Camping recap that he was starting to show significant progress, and he went from "progress" to "perfection" nearly overnight. I maybe shouldn't say that he's totally perfect (although I'm the mom, so of course I can say he's perfect), but he can definitely sit and play unassisted for upwards of ten minutes. The only downside is that he can't get himself into a sitting position yet, so once he gets bored with being on his belly (which happens quickly because he still hasn't figured out the crawling thing), he fusses until he is helped into the sitting position. Rolling back to front still happens all the time, but he's still showing no interest in rolling front to back. Goofy kid.

A quick run-down of a few other developments/changes we've noticed in the past month:

--Faces have become waaay more interesting. His hands and fingers are constantly going to our faces, in our mouths, even up our noses. He's even managed to distract himself from nursing because he gets so focused on playing with my face.

--Pictures have become entertaining for him. We're pretty sure he can recognize Darrell and I in photos, and he spent a good three minutes laughing at one the other day. And when I'm home with him during the day he sometimes reaches out toward photos of Darrell.

--And speaking of reaching out, he is constantly reaching for and lunging toward things that he wants. Not such a helpful skill when we are trying to hold him (especially when we aren't ready for the lunge), but definitely a helpful skill when Mom is at Target trying to decide which teething rings to buy (I just held the two options up and let William reach toward the one that he wanted. Easy peasy).

--He has a little bit of awareness to "follow" objects even when he can no longer see them. If he drops something out of his high chair, he'll occasionally lean over like he's trying to look for it on the floor. And if I put a toy behind him that he's been playing with, he'll try to turn around to get it back.

--Separation anxiety is definitely rearing its ugly head. He does okay (most of the time) with my parents, but he had his first stay with a non-family sitter a few weeks ago. We won't say exactly how it went, but if we were to rank activities starting with the one he did most, it would go a little something like this: cry/scream, sleep, play. Thankfully, our friends were totally understanding about it and have even offered to watch him again.

I think that's all for now; we're so in love with our peek-a-boo playing, belly laughing, goofy squealing little five-month old!

Showing off his blonde locks (and his sitting up efforts)!

Mom made the mistake of sitting in front of the chair to try to get him to smile. It didn't take him long to lunge toward me--but at least it made for a cute picture!