Adam says that this has been the longest 5 months of his life, but I think that's because he's wishing Micah would hurry up and DO more. Me, I'm enjoying watching each little change, and am in no hurry. As a friend who was chasing after his 2 year old recently commented, "mobility and object permanence are overrated."
I think we may have actually hit the beginning of understanding object permanence just within the last few days, as Micah has now started to complain when left alone for too long, only to turn off the tears as soon as we turn our attention back to him.
Also just in the last two days, his hands have found each other. For some reason, this absolutely slays me when I see his little fingers interlaced together as if he's solving Fermat's last theorem. I have to get a photo of those little hands. Speaking of hands, we're starting baby sign language now, so if you see the two idiots loudly talking about MILK while making cow-milking motions, that will be us. Hopefully my commitment to baby signing will last longer than my commitment to cloth diapers did! And speaking of milk, we're seeing a lot of it go in and quite a lot of it drool, dribble, and project itself forcefully out. I knew when you had a baby that you do lots of laundry, but I never really realized that it was the adult clothing that needed so much washing! Now I see why!
Everything is now getting put in the mouth, with an special fondness for mommy's hands during bathtime. Of course, as soon as the hands started going in the mouth, he picked up a little cold, and has been coughing quite a lot and sleeping a bit more than usual. We won't complain about the latter! Micah remains a good sleeper, calming down as soon as we've finished swaddling him and going to sleep without a complaint. He continues to sleep from about 7:30 pm to 4:30 or 5 am, and can sometimes be pursuaded to go back to sleep until 6. He wakes up alert and interested in seeing what's going to happen, but is ready for a nap from 8-10 and then again around 12. He is still taking a late afternoon nap as well, around 4:30 or so, although sometimes that gets interrupted by day care pick-up. His naps at day care get a little more interrupted by the other kids, but overall he's doing great there.
At his last check-up, Micah was over 14 pounds, and is in the 55th percentile for length, the 35th percentile for weight, and the 1st percentile for head circumference! The doctor says that as long as his head is growing and his development is normal that it isn't something we should worry aobut -- someone has to be in the 1st percentile.... Micah is already working very hard at standing up. He enjoyes being held up so that he can practice putting weight on his legs, and I'd almost guess that he'll stand before he crawls. He's got great neck strength and just started to get the hang of his bouncy swing.
I can't wait for the hand photos. There's something wonderful about them don't you agree? And, yes I can believe it's been five months already since we met at Hiranandani.
ReplyDeleteWe are fast approching six months and are so excited about the final trimester!!!!!!
Oh how the time flies. It feel like yesterday the 4 of us were looking at apartments and drinking water from unknown sources!
ReplyDeleteI love that you've started signing with your little one! I also LOVE when babies find their hands...so cute!
ReplyDeleteEvery parent should sign with their baby! Remember to sign the word as you say it and to use keys American Sign Language signs to narrate your child’s world! Keep on sharing! Sara Bingham, author of The Baby Signing Book
Interesting last comment - I'm interested in signing with our two too after seeing a segment on one of the morning shows here, so now I know where to find info. Thanks Sara.
ReplyDeleteLove the detailed update Steph and I'm still insanely jealous that Micah is sleeping so well. Taj has got a cold too, so I empathise with what you're going through - any disruption is one disruption too many when there is a baby in the house! Alex wakes up refreshed and ready to go too, and I love the noises he makes at this time (which he's still making as he's only had half of his first bottle of the day as it's 6:10am). Keep the detailed info coming, as well as lots of photos for your six month blog post.
Hi Stephanie
ReplyDeleteIt all sounds good. Our boys are 5 months too (albeit they came six weeks premature so adjusted age really is 4 months) but what you describe all sounds familiar. Our little guy sleeps 8-9 hours straight but Christopher usually goes 6 hours straight at the most. If he wakes up he has a hard time falling back to sleep and he usually gets another bottle out of us as an "incentive" to fall back to sleep - which he does once said bottle is CONSUMED! He has a voracious appetite, we started rice cereal at 2 months but even that didn't contain his hunger. We "fear" he's approaching 20 lbs and dread the tongue-lashing we're goign to get next month when he goes for the six month visit. His brother Spiros though is pure muscle and regulates his appetite accordingly. Not a single fat cell anywhere, we swear this kid is going to be an athlete. It's interesting when you have twins to notice that so much of what happens to them is already genetically programmed at some level and environment can only effect so much change. We realize this after noticing the differences in their personalities, sleeping patterns, eating habits, etc. they can be polar opposites on so many things even though they receive the same care from us.
As for signing, we have mixed feelings about that. Our neighbor swore by it with her baby girl and we were amazed at how she taught her to communicate things with her hands but the child is now 2.5 and her verbal is not quite up to par so the mother has decided not to introduce her 9 month old to signing... Connection? Who knows, maybe yes maybe no but we tend to stick with the old school thinking as much as possible.. Especially after the Baby Einstein fiasco that hit the wires lately. Very little is really known about all these new school things that are being introduced and peddled by "experts" as essential for the baby. Our pediatricians also had mixed feelings on the subject and didn't really endorse it one way or the other. In fact none of them used it for their tykes when we asked them.
Happy Holidays to you and the family!
J
PS - I wouldn't wory about the percentile stuff too much either. Our pedis said the same thing, the important thing is that there is a sloping trendline. Our boys have very different weight/height/head circumference measurements but developmentally they seem to be on the same plane. In fact the "little" guy seems to be a little further along and reaches milestones quicker than his higher-quintile-endowed brother..
I'm betting that a relatively small head size will be an advantage when it comes to walking. I always wondered how babies could stay upright with their little tiny feet and their (relatively) huge heads -- they look so top-heavy!.
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