5 Months Old

Dear Emily,

Life is starting to become really exciting with you. You have always been fascinated with absorbing all that is going on around you, but now you also interact. This usually looks like you putting your arms way out with your mouth in an ‘o’ shape and grabbing whatever you see and putting it in your mouth. On Thursday you went with me over to a friends home that has 5 cats. You LOVED looking at them and you were so thrilled to be able to run your hands through the fur; I just had to keep you from chewing on them.

When you are really excited you scrunch your body into a ball and nestle your head into my neck. Sometimes you do this and then lean way back and then dive right back, over and over again. You are starting to wrap your arms around our necks and giving us hugs. Sometimes you hold our face in your hands and “whisper” us your stories.

You love all sorts of movement and reward our tactics with laughter. Running, bouncing, lifting you in the air, dancing, and swinging are a few favorites.

You are very social. You smile at all of the people we meet and love to watch them. When your dad and I are laughing (which happens a lot these days because we are so tired that everything is funny) you have been joining in, but somewhat hesitantly. You aren’t quite sure what is so funny but you want to be part of it.

You are becoming very strong. Sitting up by yourself happens for a few minutes at a time, and after you fall you try so hard (without success) to sit back up again. You also figured out your jumping thing and go to town going up and down. This week you noticed that your toys are different and some are better than others. You become a little frustrated after you try so hard to move yourself toward them and just can’t quite get there. You also will play with the exersaucer toys which previously you completely ignored. But your toys aren’t nearly as interesting as the things that your dad and I use. We now bring Tupperware or a utensil to the table for you to chew on while we eat to try and distract you from grabbing our food or dishes. You think playing with the outside of the diaper bag is pretty neat and this week you were trying to play with your car seat when it was next to you on the ground.

You have also figured out how to “play” the piano. Until two days ago you would happily sit on our laps and listen to us play while sucking on your finger or our arm. Now you like to bang on the keys and sing away! You also like to bang on books, the floor, your toys, me…I think this is a skill we are just beginning to see and it will soon blossom more fully.

Changing your diaper is becoming more challenging because you like to roll to your side to look around and grab things. We have a little lion we call Linus that we try to hand you, but usually you drop him between the washer and dryer and go for the baby wipes container which apparently is more fun to chew on. You also love holding your feet and sucking on your toes so we have to try and trade you for your feet so we can get you dressed or put a diaper back on.

You are becoming a much better traveler now that you can see out the back window. Sometimes you jabber away and other times you just sit so quietly that we are surprised to find you wide awake when we get to our destination. When you cry in your car seat there is a now a chance that you will actually fall asleep!

One of my favorite things is how excited you get when you see me or your dad walk into the room and make eye contact with you. You have a very cute excited laugh and a very huge smile that you are quick to share. Once you even reached out to me to hold you!

Today you really just wanted to stand in front of the skateboard.

You thought it was pretty interesting and cracked a few smiles but it took a lot of work to have you sit down. This is the first time you could sit all by yourself!

Today was also the first time you paid any attention to your dog.

And this face!

To celebrate your 5 month mark I gave you rice cereal today for the first time. You are a pro! You helped put the spoon in your mouth and slurped and slurped and slurped. When the spoon was empty you reached toward the container with the rice cereal until I put more on the spoon. It was more fun than I had anticipated. Hopefully it sits well with your little system.

We love you Emily!