Five Months
Cutiepie! Time for my monthly update on you again! If I keep on repeating just how much time flies with you, I'd slowly but surely sound like a broken record, and an annoying one at that - but it is just so true! And how big you have gotten! Since your birth you have grown a whole 10 centimeters - just about a full head - and we have very recently switched your clothes-size yet again. Well, a lot of your 62 pieces still fit, but your pants we definitely had to size up to 68 already. I sorted through the mountain of your clothes, to return your first size of 56 back to Git, who is so kindly lending us all of her baby clothes and saves us a ton of money, and when I saw all those 56 onesies again, I couldn't believe just how small you once were. And now you are almost half a year old.
This month has seen the first tender beginnings of your mobility! It all started on the second day of your fifth month, when you turned over for the first time. I had put you on your tummy onto your play mat on the floor, and was sitting there with you, watching you play. Your Daddy was cooking, when all of a sudden I saw this concentrated look on your face. I called for your Daddy's attention, and just when he turned to look, you were in motion already, landing on your back, looking a bit surprised yourself. I immediately turned you onto your tummy again to see if you'd do it again. I remember that once you had turned over already, but because you didn't balance well on your elbows and your heavy head just set you in motion without any conscious effort. Well - this time it was, cause as soon as I had you on your tummy again, you rolled over one more time! And about a week later you then managed to turn from your back onto your tummy. For a couple of weeks then you weren't really happy with the result of your rolling, seeing as your arm always got stuck beneath you, but soon you have figured out how to pull it from underneath you as well.
Since then it has been a true blast watching you while you are on the floor on your mat, surrounded by all your toys. You can now reach for and grab pretty much everything within your reach - and even a bit beyond, since you have learned to do a full circle on the floor, turning sideways and pushing yourself forward with your feet. I was really surprised to find you laying 180° opposite to how I had put you down one day, and back the way I had initially put you only a few minutes later. And with all this legs-in-the-air-and-rolling-around-business you have also finally acknowledged the existence of your feet! You haven't yet tried to pull them into your mouth, and you also haven't managed yet to pull your socks off, but you are constantly holding on to your feet now, when no other toy is available.
It is amazing to see how much you are making yourself an active part of our daily life now. You are no longer content just sitting on our laps anymore, oh no! Nothing is safe of your explorations anymore, you want to get your hands onto everything, and everything needs to go into your mouth for further inspection! While sitting on our laps by a table, you lean forward and reach for everything in front of you: cell phones, plates, bowls, your pacifier, your tea bottle, the power cable of my laptop, even my laptop itself! You want to touch everything, figure out the feel and texture of everything. And once you have done that, you drop it onto the floor. And again. And again - and again! And what a contemplative baby you are. For the most part you wear your face in a concentrated frown, with a little fold between your eyebrows, examining everything you can get your little hands on very thoroughly, much like a scientist would with this really rare beetle. You turn things this way and that, put them in your mouth to taste them, then continue to look at them from all angles. You never seem to get tired of this. You shake them, pass them from one hand into the other, look at them some more. It's fascinating to watch your fascination with the world. And you do the same thing with the whole of your environment: you quietly observe everything that's going on around you, making me wonder a lot what's going on inside your beautiful little head. I can almost see the little wheels in your brain spinning, and I love to fantasize that you will NOT turn out to be a destructive little whirlwind soon, but a contemplative and thoughtful smart little girl who's trying to understand her world rather than destroying it.
This month has also seen your first real interaction with another baby. Since your exchange with other babies has mostly consisted of hysterical crying whenever a bigger-than-you baby tried to establish contact, respectively complete disregard of their existence, I was very surprised to see that this month you have actually acknowledged Lee, and extended your explorations in her direction as well. We had a blast when we held you and Lee opposite of each other, and both of you started to reach your little hands out towards each other and started to feel the other one with real interest. This one particular first incident ended with your fingers stuck into Lee's mouth who sucked on them like they were the next best thing to her pacifier, which was when the fun was kind of over for you. With all that is good an righteous: your fingers belong to you!
This really made me look forward to warmer temperatures, when you and Lee will be able to crawl, and actually play together outside in the yard!
Vocally, you have really picked it up a notch too. Shrieking has become your new favorite thing to do, and you do it so loudly and proudly, that my ears are ringing more often than not these days. You also do this weird kind of cry, that sounds like a laugh, and you are making it so that I can't tell from your facial expression, if it is actually the one or the other. I am starting to think that you have figured me out, figured out how to get my attention: I think you make this particular noise sound like a cry to make me look at you, and when I do you keep up the noise but crack into a smile, and then kind of draw out the sound until it matches the look on your face and it sounds like a laugh - until you run out of air. It's confusingly cute!
It also happened this month that you made yourself quite present out in public, particularly this one time at Starbucks with your Tio#E. You were sitting on my lap contentedly, making soft babbling noises - until the soft noises weren't so soft anymore, and people actually turned to look at you! I was very uncomfortable seeing as this was the first time that you actively drew attention towards you, and I nervously tried to read peoples' expressions as they looked at you: annoyance or approval? It seemed to be the latter, however, seeing as you really weren't making any unpleasant noises.
And speaking of your Tio#E - for now things seem to have sorted themselves out: he's moved back in with your Tia#R. For better or worse, I guess. I am curious about what the future holds for them.
In more family matters: you are becoming a cousin!!!! FINALLY your Uncle Bern has called with the good news! Your Auntie Bee is pregnant, I got the phone call pretty much before her pee dried on the pregnancy test they were so excited! And I am excited too! It's not the first time you are becoming a cousin - as a matter of fact, our family is full of second cousins to you, and in all honesty I don't even know how many. Most of them are on your grandmommy's side of the family, a branch of our family tree with which we have practically no contact whatsoever. We have a little more contact with my cousin W on your granddaddy's side, who has a daughter already and is expecting a second child in August - but the contact doesn't really extend much beyond family gettogethers and occasional instances where I have to fix his computer. As far as first cousins are concerned - well, Tia#R and Tio#E are VERY unlikely to ever produce offspring in this constellation... and your Uncles and Aunt on your Mexican side are too young altogether, all of them still being teenagers. But Bern and Bee, that's a whole different story. Before you were on the way we spent a lot of time together, far off any family gettogethers, since those rarely happen anymore on your grandmommy's side of the family. We are swimming on a very similar wavelength, and I can imagine that their kid and you will grow close as cousins - at least I hope so, and I will try to make it happen. Let's wish for the best for Bee's pregnancy!
What else... your Tio and Tia's little dog Cipi has started to become really interesting to you... it's a tiny bouncing barking ball of energy, and you can spend ages just watching him zoom about. You reach out for him, but he's still too quick for you, so you just try to follow him with your eyes, and your head jerks back and forth as he zooms by. No smile will steal upon your lips, but your face is occupied with this look of utter wonder at that dog's many antics. Once you actually managed to grab his leg and held on to it, like he was some really interesting toy of yours, and I was afraid of him maybe snapping at you, for he isn't exactly friendly with children. But to my and your Tia's surprise, he didn't even growl, just tried to pull away from you. That's good to know that this little dog has accepted you as a part of his pack, and a higher-ranking one at that.
Oh, and have I mentioned yet that your father and uncle are now renting an atelier for their serigraphy art? It's something that your Dad has always wanted, something like a dream come true. It's a place in the inner city, an artist's community of sorts, a comlete chaos, a clutter of things, but very inspiring at any rate. Unfortunately that also means even less time with your Daddy - but he's really trying hard to make us some extra cash with his art. He's getting his own exhibition in June, imagine! A whole gallery just for his art - so you can imagine how much work he has to put into this project. All for the greater good of the family, I guess...
Let's wish your Daddy luck that he can get it all done on time... and you go ahead and enjoy the last month in the first half year of your life!
I love you endlessly,
Mama
This month has seen the first tender beginnings of your mobility! It all started on the second day of your fifth month, when you turned over for the first time. I had put you on your tummy onto your play mat on the floor, and was sitting there with you, watching you play. Your Daddy was cooking, when all of a sudden I saw this concentrated look on your face. I called for your Daddy's attention, and just when he turned to look, you were in motion already, landing on your back, looking a bit surprised yourself. I immediately turned you onto your tummy again to see if you'd do it again. I remember that once you had turned over already, but because you didn't balance well on your elbows and your heavy head just set you in motion without any conscious effort. Well - this time it was, cause as soon as I had you on your tummy again, you rolled over one more time! And about a week later you then managed to turn from your back onto your tummy. For a couple of weeks then you weren't really happy with the result of your rolling, seeing as your arm always got stuck beneath you, but soon you have figured out how to pull it from underneath you as well.
Since then it has been a true blast watching you while you are on the floor on your mat, surrounded by all your toys. You can now reach for and grab pretty much everything within your reach - and even a bit beyond, since you have learned to do a full circle on the floor, turning sideways and pushing yourself forward with your feet. I was really surprised to find you laying 180° opposite to how I had put you down one day, and back the way I had initially put you only a few minutes later. And with all this legs-in-the-air-and-rolling-around-business you have also finally acknowledged the existence of your feet! You haven't yet tried to pull them into your mouth, and you also haven't managed yet to pull your socks off, but you are constantly holding on to your feet now, when no other toy is available.
It is amazing to see how much you are making yourself an active part of our daily life now. You are no longer content just sitting on our laps anymore, oh no! Nothing is safe of your explorations anymore, you want to get your hands onto everything, and everything needs to go into your mouth for further inspection! While sitting on our laps by a table, you lean forward and reach for everything in front of you: cell phones, plates, bowls, your pacifier, your tea bottle, the power cable of my laptop, even my laptop itself! You want to touch everything, figure out the feel and texture of everything. And once you have done that, you drop it onto the floor. And again. And again - and again! And what a contemplative baby you are. For the most part you wear your face in a concentrated frown, with a little fold between your eyebrows, examining everything you can get your little hands on very thoroughly, much like a scientist would with this really rare beetle. You turn things this way and that, put them in your mouth to taste them, then continue to look at them from all angles. You never seem to get tired of this. You shake them, pass them from one hand into the other, look at them some more. It's fascinating to watch your fascination with the world. And you do the same thing with the whole of your environment: you quietly observe everything that's going on around you, making me wonder a lot what's going on inside your beautiful little head. I can almost see the little wheels in your brain spinning, and I love to fantasize that you will NOT turn out to be a destructive little whirlwind soon, but a contemplative and thoughtful smart little girl who's trying to understand her world rather than destroying it.
This month has also seen your first real interaction with another baby. Since your exchange with other babies has mostly consisted of hysterical crying whenever a bigger-than-you baby tried to establish contact, respectively complete disregard of their existence, I was very surprised to see that this month you have actually acknowledged Lee, and extended your explorations in her direction as well. We had a blast when we held you and Lee opposite of each other, and both of you started to reach your little hands out towards each other and started to feel the other one with real interest. This one particular first incident ended with your fingers stuck into Lee's mouth who sucked on them like they were the next best thing to her pacifier, which was when the fun was kind of over for you. With all that is good an righteous: your fingers belong to you!
This really made me look forward to warmer temperatures, when you and Lee will be able to crawl, and actually play together outside in the yard!
Vocally, you have really picked it up a notch too. Shrieking has become your new favorite thing to do, and you do it so loudly and proudly, that my ears are ringing more often than not these days. You also do this weird kind of cry, that sounds like a laugh, and you are making it so that I can't tell from your facial expression, if it is actually the one or the other. I am starting to think that you have figured me out, figured out how to get my attention: I think you make this particular noise sound like a cry to make me look at you, and when I do you keep up the noise but crack into a smile, and then kind of draw out the sound until it matches the look on your face and it sounds like a laugh - until you run out of air. It's confusingly cute!
It also happened this month that you made yourself quite present out in public, particularly this one time at Starbucks with your Tio#E. You were sitting on my lap contentedly, making soft babbling noises - until the soft noises weren't so soft anymore, and people actually turned to look at you! I was very uncomfortable seeing as this was the first time that you actively drew attention towards you, and I nervously tried to read peoples' expressions as they looked at you: annoyance or approval? It seemed to be the latter, however, seeing as you really weren't making any unpleasant noises.
And speaking of your Tio#E - for now things seem to have sorted themselves out: he's moved back in with your Tia#R. For better or worse, I guess. I am curious about what the future holds for them.
In more family matters: you are becoming a cousin!!!! FINALLY your Uncle Bern has called with the good news! Your Auntie Bee is pregnant, I got the phone call pretty much before her pee dried on the pregnancy test they were so excited! And I am excited too! It's not the first time you are becoming a cousin - as a matter of fact, our family is full of second cousins to you, and in all honesty I don't even know how many. Most of them are on your grandmommy's side of the family, a branch of our family tree with which we have practically no contact whatsoever. We have a little more contact with my cousin W on your granddaddy's side, who has a daughter already and is expecting a second child in August - but the contact doesn't really extend much beyond family gettogethers and occasional instances where I have to fix his computer. As far as first cousins are concerned - well, Tia#R and Tio#E are VERY unlikely to ever produce offspring in this constellation... and your Uncles and Aunt on your Mexican side are too young altogether, all of them still being teenagers. But Bern and Bee, that's a whole different story. Before you were on the way we spent a lot of time together, far off any family gettogethers, since those rarely happen anymore on your grandmommy's side of the family. We are swimming on a very similar wavelength, and I can imagine that their kid and you will grow close as cousins - at least I hope so, and I will try to make it happen. Let's wish for the best for Bee's pregnancy!
What else... your Tio and Tia's little dog Cipi has started to become really interesting to you... it's a tiny bouncing barking ball of energy, and you can spend ages just watching him zoom about. You reach out for him, but he's still too quick for you, so you just try to follow him with your eyes, and your head jerks back and forth as he zooms by. No smile will steal upon your lips, but your face is occupied with this look of utter wonder at that dog's many antics. Once you actually managed to grab his leg and held on to it, like he was some really interesting toy of yours, and I was afraid of him maybe snapping at you, for he isn't exactly friendly with children. But to my and your Tia's surprise, he didn't even growl, just tried to pull away from you. That's good to know that this little dog has accepted you as a part of his pack, and a higher-ranking one at that.
Oh, and have I mentioned yet that your father and uncle are now renting an atelier for their serigraphy art? It's something that your Dad has always wanted, something like a dream come true. It's a place in the inner city, an artist's community of sorts, a comlete chaos, a clutter of things, but very inspiring at any rate. Unfortunately that also means even less time with your Daddy - but he's really trying hard to make us some extra cash with his art. He's getting his own exhibition in June, imagine! A whole gallery just for his art - so you can imagine how much work he has to put into this project. All for the greater good of the family, I guess...
Let's wish your Daddy luck that he can get it all done on time... and you go ahead and enjoy the last month in the first half year of your life!
I love you endlessly,
Mama
posted by spreadyourwings at 9:39 PM
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