Five Months and Counting...

Dear Sam-a-lam-a,

Baby boy, I cannot believe how old you are getting! Every time I spied a clock today, I tried to remember what was happening on the day you were born. You are about 10 pounds heavier than you were when you were born, you little porker! Which is making it a little bit harder for mama to carry you around everywhere. And now we have 2 flights of steps to walk up and down together all the freaking day, so that's nice. So many things have happened this month I don't know where to begin. You learned how to make 'raspberries' and as soon as you mastered it you stopped altogether. This infuriates your father because he really liked the 'raspberries' and now you won't perform for him anymore. I guess you are supposed to behave more like a trained seal.

Another first this month: swimming! We've been to the pool a few times, and although you don't dislike it, you don't really know what to make of it. You just look around with a puzzled look on you face like 'what are all these people doing in my bathtub?' I just give you a toy to stuff in your maw and then you're as happy as a clam.

You still haven't rolled over yet, but that's A-OK with me! You do, however, scoot across the floor on your butt with amazing speed and agility. If you spy a toy that's out of your reach, why you just scoot on over and grab it up. No more sleeping in bed with mom and dad for you, you little mobile creature. Besides, sleeping in bed with your parents is so two months ago.

You also got your first taste of real food this month! Well, I'm not sure if rice cereal mixed with breast milk qualifies as 'real' but it's something other than just plain milk, right? You love it. LOVE! L.O.V.E. it. However your skills in the eating department are still a bit underdeveloped. Oh well, it makes for some cute effing pictures.

In a partially related note, since you have started with the cereal (5 days now) you have slept through the night twice. Even though every book I ever read said that giving cereal will NOT make your baby sleep through the night, never ever ever! Maybe it's unrelated. I'm not going to ask too many questions because I don't want to jinx this! Even though you have slept through the night, I have not been given the same blessing. You see there are these two things on my chest which fill up with milk at night, and when you don't wake up to drain them, they start shooting milk out of them right around 6am. A lot of milk. I've changed the sheets both nights you slept through. Between that and the cereal, it's been a big laundry week around here!

Mostly this month I've loved watching you learn. Your ability to play a new game or figure out a new toy astounds me. One day you pulled a blankie over your face, and I said 'where's my baby?' and when you pulled the blanket down I said 'there he is!' Something registered on your face that you understood what was happening. Now we play this all the time. In your gymni there is a turtle that hangs which has a mirror on the bottom. As you played in there today, you caught your reflection in that mirror. In your hands was your taggie blanket, and you pulled it up over your face. When you yanked it down, you looked up at your own reflection and laughed out loud. I cried. It's been so amazing watching you grow so far, and you're still so little. I can't imagine how I'll feel when you're 16 and learning to drive. I get sad sometimes after I've put you to bed because I know there will be a day when you get to big to fall asleep in my arms. I'm just glad for now because I know that day is still far off, and every night when I put you to bed I'll kiss your tiny head and lock that moment away in my heart, so that when you are older and don't want your mom kissing you goodnight anymore I can pull that moment out and relive it.

I love you baby. More and more every moment.

Mama