Dear Nicholas,
You turned five months about a week and a half ago. Your fifth month was full of milestones. We began feeding you rice cereal over Memorial Day weekend, and your first reaction was an expressive grimace.
It took you a few days to get used to the taste and consistency, but eventually you got the hang of it and even began to enjoy it. Carrots? Not so much. In the past week or two we've added some new foods to your rotation and you are starting to enjoy different flavors a bit more.
You also started rolling this month. On June 8th, I came into your room after your morning nap and found you on your stomach for the first time. Since then, you've been a rolling machine. We can now set you down on the ground, turn our backs for a few moments, and turn back around to find you three or four feet away from where we left you.
This month you also discovered your feet and your mouth. You love grabbing your feet during diaper changes, or whenever you happen to notice them when you're lying on the floor. You reach for your toes and will work oh so hard to try to get them into your mouth. You are a pretty flexible little guy and with a little help you have no trouble tasting those toes.
This month you also discovered that you love putting anything in your mouth. When you encounter a new object, your first reaction is open your mouth into a long little oval with pursed lips and then try to put the object inside. This works well for things you can pick up yourself, but it's pretty funny when you see something a few feet away and you open your mouth in anticipation. You also love to stick out your tongue. If something pleases you, you will give us a coy smile with just a little bit of your tongue sticking out. It's pretty darn cute.
With all these new activities in your repertoire, your sleep habits have unfortunately begun to head downhill. From about 10 weeks until four months, you consistently slept about 12 hours a night with one wake up for food around 4am. Since early June (or maybe even since we got back from Oregon), you've begun waking up two, even three, times a night. Naps have continued to be a challenge, but we finally buckled down and implemented some sleep training this month. After a rough few weeks of listening to you scream for 10 minutes (or more) each time we put you down for a nap, and occasionally in the evenings, you are now getting a little more comfortable drifting off on your own in your crib. At nap times, I will read you a story and then give you a quick "snack," before putting you down in your crib. I try to keep you in that drowsy stage before putting you in your crib, but you love to pass out while eating. In the evenings, we'll give you a bath, and, depending on your level of fussiness, sometimes read you a story before I feed you. Then we put you in your crib with your giraffe noise machine (who you love to wrestle with and gnaw on), and most of the time you can now drift off on your own with maybe just a few minutes of crying.
During your fifth month, you made your first trip to Dallas for cousin Lisa's wedding. You handled the driving each way pretty well, and were a trooper about staying out late for both the rehearsal dinner and wedding. You were the hit of the party-- aside from the bride, of course! You met numerous relatives on Daddy's side of the family, including uncle Dan, great uncle Rich and aunt Kathy, cousins Lisa and Matt, and many others. Dzia Dzia and Grandmama came to stay with us for a few days before and after the wedding, and you had a great time getting spoiled with lots of attention from each of them.
You also went swimming for the first time. We took you to the Blue Hole in Wimberley on Memorial Day. The water was a little cold, but you were OK getting in up to your waist. You kept looking around with a little bit of a concerned look on your face, as in "this isn't my bath...," but overall you seemed to like it. A week later we went back with Mommy's friend, Anne, and then we took you in the hotel pool in Dallas. Daddy accidentally dunked you in the hotel pool, but you didn't let out much more than a brief whimper in response. The rest of the time you happily kicked and splashed. We think we have a little water baby on our hands.
Finally, we celebrated Daddy's first Father's Day this month. Father's Day fell on the day after cousin Lisa's wedding, so we spent most of it driving home from Dallas. Unfortunately we didn't get any pictures, but Daddy loved the sandals and cards we picked out for him, and we cooked gourmet burgers for Daddy and Dzia Dzia to celebrate.
At five months, your likes include baths, spending time outside (particularly walks in the jogger that you are now big enough to enjoy), lying on your play mat and playing with the dangling toys, bouncing in your new Sassy Seat, sitting or standing upright (with assistance), swimming, putting anything and everything in your mouth, and meeting new people-- you have never met a stranger and are thrilled with every new face you encounter, especially women. You are definitely a ladies' man. Your dislikes include going to bed (day or night), getting too hot in your carseat (I don't blame you), carrots, and being left alone for more than a few minutes.
Noticing Babar for the first time after five months of these photo shoots.
Nicholas, we are so proud to be your parents. We can already tell that you are a smart, outgoing, funny little guy. Watching you grow from a tiny newborn into an active, expressive baby has been such a joyful, amazing experience. It's becoming a cliche, but I just want time to slow down. These past five months have flown by and time just seems to keep speeding up. But, we can only keep moving forward and so onward we go! I can't wait to see what you have in store for us next month.
I love you so,
Mommy
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