Five Months

My baby boy is getting so big! A couple of weeks ago we passed the one-year anniversary of my first OB appointment and our first little peak at a kidney bean-shaped "Poppy" - Boy has he grown in a year! Anyhow, I'm realizing that he really isn't a newborn anymore in any way. He's so alert and attentive, active, and capable!

Of course he is reverting to eating a bit like a newborn. For the past two days he's eaten almost every three hours, including overnight. His long stretch is more like 4-5 hours right now. Not good little man. He really is hungry when he wakes up - trust me he eats a lot. So I think its about time to get him started on some cereal...wish us luck!

Sam sleeps on his stomach a lot. I know, I know, SIDS. I sweat I put him to sleep on his back every single night and for every single nap. But 90% of the time he rolls himself over and sleeps on his tummy. He sleeps well on his stomach - he must get that from me. He gets some pretty awesome sleep marks on his face sometimes, too. Unfortunately that means he wakes up on his tummy, which makes it harder for him to fall back to sleep. Hopefully he'll get better about that, and maybe all the tummy time will help him develop the strength to crawl.

His major accomplishment this month is sitting. In the past week or two he has made huge strides on this milestone. If properly balanced, he can sit for up to a minute before tumbling over. He can't yet get himself into the position, but he does try to sit all the way up when he's in his car seat, stroller, and sometimes lying on the floor. He's got the whole "tripod sit" figured out. I give it a few more weeks before he is officially a "sitter" rather than a "supported sitter."

He's also getting very good with his fingers. He has great control when holding and grabbing his toys. Unfortunately, this also means he's getting better at scratching. He's no longer just rubbing his itchy spots, he's actually using individual fingers to relieve the itching. Side note on that topic: I think the scratching is becoming as much a habit as a relief mechanism. When you're holding him he often tries to scratch your arm, and it certainly is a sign that he's tired. Hmm, how are we going to nip this in the bud?

So at 5 months, here are Sam's likes and dislikes...
Likes:
-Watching Cars
-Being Outside/Stroller Walks
-Anything He Can Get Into His Mouth (his fingers, your fingers, remote, toy, burp cloth, etc)
-Scratching
-Blowing On His Tummy

Dislikes:
-Waking Up On His Tummy
-The Evening (still a very fussy time of day)