5 months old!!
Where to start! Get comfy, for this is a long one. Emma is 5 months old, weighs 16.2 pounds and is 25+ inches tall. She is doing a lot of new things. She has found her toes and LOVES to put them in her mouth. Course, everything she can reach she tries to put in her mouth. If she can’t put it in her mouth, she then beats it with her little hand. How she doesn’t hurt herself when she does that I’ll never know. Right now she is leaning over my arm while in the baby sling and hitting the arm of the chair I am sitting in. If she can’t get something in her mouth, she sometimes gets frustrated and begins to squeal as loud as she can. Especially if its something she can reach, like the toys that are attached to the arches of her play mat. The loud squealing can then sometimes lead to full on melt down and she needs to be rescued from herself by being picked up. I’ve tried to give her the item off of her play mat, but she won’t have it at that point.
She has also discovered her tongue and enjoys sticking it out quiet a bit. She loves licking wet washcloths, so when she is getting a bath, her tongue is out the entire time in anticipation of her face being washed. She also likes sticking her tongue out when it is breezy outside. Not sure what is up with that (smiles)! Jared taught her how to blow a raspberry with her tongue, so that is another favorite thing for her to do. And it’s all sorts of cute until she turns to look at you when she does it and you get spit all over your face. Yes, I am speaking from experience.
Her giggling has increased a lot. So, Jared and I spend most of our waking hours with her trying to make her laugh. She is not ticklish, so we dance around, sing, make faces, kiss her neck, etc. Last night I was holding her on my lap singing the “Patty Cake” song to her and I began to rub my hands together for the “roll ‘em up” part and she laughed at me rubbing my hands together. I think she liked the sound it made – what am I saying…I have no idea why she found that so funny. But, we’ll take whatever we can get!
She is sitting up more on her own in the seated position. She is not sitting straight up, but not nearly as hunched over as before. She is also trying to sit up from a laying down position. She lifts her head and her feet. She reminds me of a little turtle that’s been flipped on its back when she does that. If you give her your fingers, she can pull herself up that way without any help.
She has rolled from her stomach to her back a few times, but not recently. It seems as though that now she has done it, she doesn’t seem to care to do it again. Mission accomplished, move on to the next big thing, I guess.
She is doing much better in her car seat on average. She still screams and cries, but not as often. Her newest thing is to scream and cry into a blanket or her bib.
My most favorite thing she does, next to the giggles, is she is very interested in our facial features. She’ll look very intently at our face, study it, and then she’ll start touching our face with her little hand. She will grab onto our nose, ears, lips and chin. From time to time she gets excited and will hit us if we’re not paying attention. That can be quite a surprise, especially if she does it while I’m still asleep in bed.
We bought her a “jumpster” which is a chair attached to a spring that hangs from the molding above a door. She loves its! She’ll bounce up and down in it for quiet a while. She can spin around in it too, which she likes for she can see lots of things around the house. The more views something gives her, the happier she is and the longer she will play in it. She also enjoys her Exersaucer a lot as well. It’s so nice to have some toys she’ll play in for a while (smiles)!
She is napping on her own, but doesn’t sleep for very long. I’ve learned that if she doesn’t sleep well during the day, she will not sleep well at night. So, we bought “No Cry Sleep Solutions” book and are using some of the “help your baby sleep better” tools from that book. It is a slow process, but she is beginning to sleep better during the day, which has begun to carry over into the night. We are far from where she needs to be, but since I don’t believe in the “cry it out” approach” I’ll accept having to take the long road.
I have not gone back to work due to lack of what I consider to be quality childcare. I have extended my leave until June 1st, but don’t anticipate having to stay out that long. We believe we have found a wonderful daycare provider as of this past weekend. If all goes well, I’ll return to work towards the middle to end of April.
I think I’ve covered enough (smiles)! Thank you for visiting Emma’s website. We hope you enjoy the pictures and info. Take care.
R’
She has also discovered her tongue and enjoys sticking it out quiet a bit. She loves licking wet washcloths, so when she is getting a bath, her tongue is out the entire time in anticipation of her face being washed. She also likes sticking her tongue out when it is breezy outside. Not sure what is up with that (smiles)! Jared taught her how to blow a raspberry with her tongue, so that is another favorite thing for her to do. And it’s all sorts of cute until she turns to look at you when she does it and you get spit all over your face. Yes, I am speaking from experience.
Her giggling has increased a lot. So, Jared and I spend most of our waking hours with her trying to make her laugh. She is not ticklish, so we dance around, sing, make faces, kiss her neck, etc. Last night I was holding her on my lap singing the “Patty Cake” song to her and I began to rub my hands together for the “roll ‘em up” part and she laughed at me rubbing my hands together. I think she liked the sound it made – what am I saying…I have no idea why she found that so funny. But, we’ll take whatever we can get!
She is sitting up more on her own in the seated position. She is not sitting straight up, but not nearly as hunched over as before. She is also trying to sit up from a laying down position. She lifts her head and her feet. She reminds me of a little turtle that’s been flipped on its back when she does that. If you give her your fingers, she can pull herself up that way without any help.
She has rolled from her stomach to her back a few times, but not recently. It seems as though that now she has done it, she doesn’t seem to care to do it again. Mission accomplished, move on to the next big thing, I guess.
She is doing much better in her car seat on average. She still screams and cries, but not as often. Her newest thing is to scream and cry into a blanket or her bib.
My most favorite thing she does, next to the giggles, is she is very interested in our facial features. She’ll look very intently at our face, study it, and then she’ll start touching our face with her little hand. She will grab onto our nose, ears, lips and chin. From time to time she gets excited and will hit us if we’re not paying attention. That can be quite a surprise, especially if she does it while I’m still asleep in bed.
We bought her a “jumpster” which is a chair attached to a spring that hangs from the molding above a door. She loves its! She’ll bounce up and down in it for quiet a while. She can spin around in it too, which she likes for she can see lots of things around the house. The more views something gives her, the happier she is and the longer she will play in it. She also enjoys her Exersaucer a lot as well. It’s so nice to have some toys she’ll play in for a while (smiles)!
She is napping on her own, but doesn’t sleep for very long. I’ve learned that if she doesn’t sleep well during the day, she will not sleep well at night. So, we bought “No Cry Sleep Solutions” book and are using some of the “help your baby sleep better” tools from that book. It is a slow process, but she is beginning to sleep better during the day, which has begun to carry over into the night. We are far from where she needs to be, but since I don’t believe in the “cry it out” approach” I’ll accept having to take the long road.
I have not gone back to work due to lack of what I consider to be quality childcare. I have extended my leave until June 1st, but don’t anticipate having to stay out that long. We believe we have found a wonderful daycare provider as of this past weekend. If all goes well, I’ll return to work towards the middle to end of April.
I think I’ve covered enough (smiles)! Thank you for visiting Emma’s website. We hope you enjoy the pictures and info. Take care.
R’
posted by JRE at 3/08/2006 11:39:00 AM
