Five Months

To my little Max, on the summer solstice, the day you turn five months old:

In the last month we've watched you make the jump from a cuddly little lump of newborn into a happy, curious, playful baby.  You like sitting upright in our laps, with assistance of course, so that the world is right-side-up instead of lying down sideways.  You like having a toy in your hand that you can waive around and stuff in your mouth.  And you love sucking on your thumbs like crazy.

This month we’ve started reading, big time.  I know, you’re supposed to read to babies from the start—but it’s a bit harder to do that with the second kid.  You’ve been hanging around often when we read with Toby, but now we’re reading more just to you—Sandra Boynton’s farm animals, Olivier Dunrea’s goslings, P.D. Eastman’s dogs on the go.  It’s fun to revisit these old favorites.  We’ve started attending the library’s baby story time, too, and it’s so fun to take you to an activity that is just for you!

Jumping into summer has meant lots of places for you to go and lots of new people to meet.  Usually you’re pretty happy to be held by new people, you like to study their new faces and greet them with grins.  You smile at the other mamas on the sidelines of Toby's activities, and you  and you love the attention from your PT, Calie, and your speech therapist, Anita.  We've been on the go at the zoo, parks, the library, and the pool--and we've tried to spend more time outside than in during this mild month before the summer heat really gets going.

 

You had your first dip in a real pool this month, and you like it much more than your quick (cold!) dip in our hose-filled backyard baby pool.  You’re happiest sitting on a lap in the super shallow toddler area.  You’re intrigued by the water on your belly and hands, but you do not want to touch the rough pool floor.

You’re still trying to figure out the napping thing.  You’re not a sleepy newborn anymore, but you haven’t figured out how to take long naps during the day.  So it seems like we’re always either putting you to sleep or getting you up again.  It’s okay, you’re still little enough to carry around whether you’re awake or asleep, and you’ll figure out the joy of a long, refreshing nap soon enough.  I won’t brag about how well you’re sleeping at night, I wouldn’t want to jinx it.  I’ll just give you a big public “thanks” here, because mama loves her sleep, too.

Toby is interacting with you more and more—but he’s still impatient for you to get bigger so that I don’t have to tell him to be careful all the time!  He’s gotten good at repeating our motto for the summer when I ask him why he needs to be gentle with you:  “Because we’re trying to stay out of the hospital.”  You get fussy when he’s too loud or too close, but you do love watching him as he bounces around the room.  Toby likes to play “two babies” with you, where he’ll lay down on your blanket with you and act like a baby and play with your toys.  You two are pretty funny together, and you make an adorable pair.

You're our little Max, and we love you.  And we're so very happy for the five months you've been a part of our family.