#17 Zoom around the room

I can’t believe that my little baby is almost 5 months old already! It’s strange, but I know that before I had him if I’d seen someone with a baby his age I would think that it was really tiny. Now that Jay is this age, though, I think he is so big but I think that’s just because I remember how tiny he was when he was born so he looks so big to me now.

We took him to the pediatrician this afternoon and he was so good. He only cried once when they gave him the vaccine (the second shot for pneumonia) and that lasted all of 5 seconds and then he was totally fine again. The doctor said everything looked good and his growth was normal. He now weighs 7.5 kilograms and is 67 centimeters tall.

This week for the first time Jay really walked in his walker. Before this he’d just take one or two steps, but on Monday night he walked all the way across the room. Then later while we were watching TV, Rocco (dog 1) came and stood next to him and he (Jay) just struck up this huge one-sided “conversation” with him. He threw out his arms and started “talking” loudly to Rocco (who couldn’t have cared less) and then laughed loudly in utter delight and amazement as he watched Rocco closely. And after that first time, he just got more confident and before long you’d leave a room for a few seconds, only to find him way on the other side. Now we have to be careful with what we leave lying around and also with where we put our coffee mugs. We can’t just leave them near the edge of the coffee table because that is within easy reach of tiny little fingers. This week he really does seem to be even more aware of all his surroundings and like he is busy taking everything in. During feedings he just wants to look all around and if someone else in the room speaks – he wants to turn his head to see. You can also tease him and play with him more and the sound of him laughing is just so, so cute. He also seems to love Rocco the most and becomes more animated when he sees him, but of course Rocco couldn’t care less. He gets excited when any of the dogs get close, but when Rocco gets close he gets even more excited and reaches out to grab hold of his neck fur (not in a painful way). Luckily Rocco has such a sweet, gentle disposition and he really doesn’t bother too much, even when Jay won’t leave him alone and keeps scooting closer and closer and closer in the walker and Rocco keeps having to move away.

I looked online to see what foods I should introduce first and they said rice cereal, banana, avocado, apple and pear. So, Greg went and got an avocado and then I mashed some up and fed it to him and it was quite a big hit. He really seemed to love it and opened his mouth wide each time to get some more. On Saturday, we fed him pureed apple for the first time and he liked that, too. Feeding him solids is still a big messy business, but now we have these new plastic bibs for him that we actually put on him like a little jacket and they help a lot.

Now that it’s cold, his sleeping has changed, too, and I’ve noticed that he definitely wants to sleep with Mommy way more than before. Even though his clothes are warm and he has a blanket, I’m sure it doesn’t quite compare to body heat and so this week he has spent way more time in our bed than during the previous week.

Anyway, I’ve just finished cooking dinner so it’s time I served it up and we ate. Jay has also just woken up so let me be off.

Lots of love

Em x

snippets from November 2009 (4 months)