5 months!
Friday, July 18, 2008
H is now 5 months old. He is a happy, giggly boy who loves to be tickled and splash in the tub. He is quite the talker and loves to babble and screetch at people, especially if they babble back at him. He has also morphed into some kind of crazy danger-baby. You would think it would benefit our species to have some sense of self preservation as an infant, but no. Maybe my baby likes to experiment with danger more than other babies. I don’t know. Here is what I do know- If I turn my back on H for more than 2 seconds he grabs anything and everything he can and tries to stuff it in his mouth. The cat’s tail. A handful of receipts. A dirty diaper. An entire down comforter.
Now that he’s slightly more mobile it’s even worse. Things that I assume are out of his reach, or at least out of his line of sight, are suddenly grab-able. The other night I had him smack dab in the middle of our bed, not a pillow or blanket within a 2 foot radius. I turned my back for a moment to change clothes and when I turned back around he had a pillow over his face. I think he was trying to cram it in his mouth but it also looked like he was trying to smother himself. Even though he can’t see stuff he remembers it’s there. Like his penis. I can change his diaper when he is sound asleep and his chubby little hands will start grabbing at it. It’s like they are magnetically attracted to each other.
He has mastered rolling over, but only in one direction. He can only roll from his back to his tummy. Have I ever mentioned how much he hates being on his tummy? This has thrown a wrench into our daily routine. He used to play happily in his crib for up to 45 minutes while I worked (with the baby monitor turned on). Now I’ll put him in his crib to play and before I even turn around he’s on his tummy and complaining about it. We’ve been making good use of the Baby Hawk. I don’t know how moms survive without slings.
It’s amazing to reflect back on how much he’s changed in the last 5 months. When he was first born he would only stare at my chest and smack his lips. Then he started flailing his arms around. Then he realized those arms and hands belonged to him, and he spent hours and hours contemplating them. Not long after that, he discovered that he could make his arms and hands do stuff. He made many practice grabs and started sticking his hands in his mouth. Now he can accurately reach for and hold things and transfer things from hand to hand. Even better? Those hands that used to flail around now reach up to touch my face when we’re nursing. His eyes meet mine and his face crinkles into a happy, milky smile.
(and then he chomps my nipple)















