Emilia Turns 5 Mos

Well, Emilia also turned 4 months, but I was inundated with too many things to even put up a post. The 4th month coincides with when Connie went back to work, and things got a lot more hectic around here. Not only was Connie not home to help with the baby, but we were in a desperate search for childcare and of course my customers decided to get busy at that time as well. Anyway, enough whining. I better get this posted before Em's 5th month is long gone.

A lot has happened since the last report (Em's 3 month report card). As you can see below, she's still gaining weight although at a slightly slower pace. A rule of thumb is that babies double their weight at 5 mos. Well, she's pretty darn close. Her birth weight was 7 lb 2 oz, and she's now 13 lb 15 oz. She's also gained 5" in length. Average is 6" at 6 mos so she's not far off from that as well. All in all, everything seems to be progressing quite normally.

As Connie has mentioned, we taught Em to roll, and she has turned into a roll monster. Little did we know what we were creating with this simple little skill. Em wants to roll all the time, no matter where she is - in her bouncer, while you're changing her diaper, anywhere you place her. It's definitely created some new issues.

Connie has already posted a video of her rolling, but this one is a little different in that it gives a hint of her next step - crawling. Note how she reaches for her toys near the end of the video. We're using that desire to reach out to things to try to get her to crawl. And she's starting to get the idea. Uh oh, what will we be creating now?

This is the very early stages of learning to crawl - reaching out for her toys. Being the nice guys that we are, we place the toys just out of reach.

But she's very determined to get them. She might be crawling in the next month or so.

The many faces of Em - she's got a multitude of expressions which are best explained by these...







This is also one of her standing exercises. She's really quite stable, but doesn't yet realize that it's not a good thing to tumble off the couch. So we are always very close by especially since she's also started to crawl over the edge. Like I said, she has no concept of the consequences of going head first to the floor.

These are some of the yoga ball exercises we do. She seems to like rolling around on the ball...

and holding the ball up...

More standing exercises. She's got a really strong grip so she holds on amazingly well. She'll sway front to back, and hang on for all she's got.


Another thing we're working on is sitting. We started by teaching her to tripod...

But she's progressed far beyond that, and now adds this to her bag of tricks. She's able to sit up on her own! She's stable completely on her own for up to a couple of minutes. And she's spent half an hour sitting up with gentle nudges to keep her in balance.

Ommmm...

Em loves reading, and this is how we incorporate some more standing exercises with it.





Connie is trying to turn Em into a surf rat so I've got to do my share of influencing.
But Baby Em, you're not suppose to eat the climbing gear!

Random updates:

• Since she rolls to her stomach, Em now sleeps on her stomach all the time.
• And because she's on her stomach, we no longer swaddle her.
  
• She's a thumbsucker extraordinaire (right thumb, please).
• She mostly sleeps through the night, but we still have random times when her sleep is off for whatever reasons. It's a mystery to us why this happens, and it disappears before we ever figure out a cause.
  
• She doesn't seem to eat a lot compared to other babies, but her weight appears normal.
• She loves books, and likes to turn the pages. Her favorite books are Peek-A-Who, Moo Baa La La La, Green Eggs and Ham, The Cat in the Hat, and Oh The Places You Go.
• Her favorite toy is a clock that sings, flashes, and has a bird that pops out. The funny thing is that this toy scared her when she was younger.
  
• She's very grabby - she's always reaching out for things. Just don't let her latch onto your hair. Ok, you've been warned.
  
• To teethe or not to teethe. We have no idea whether she is or not. At times it seems she is, but then again maybe not. I guess we'll know when we actually see a tooth appear.
• She's a drooler. Oh, but that means she's teething. Or maybe not.
  
• Em had her second round of vaccinations at 4 mos. We had the slow-motion nurse. It was unbelievable how slowly she gave her the shots. Em has a really good pain threshold though, and only cried for a few moments.
• You may have noticed that Em's hair no longer sticks straight up. That's thanks to our childcare person who has a secret method for getting it to lie down.
• Her vocals need a lot of work. She's become a screamer, sound-maker. It use to sound like she was saying words, but now she mostly just makes sounds.
  
• I don't have any basis for comparison, but this kid is strong. I think that's why she's able to sit by herself at this early age.
• She's a water baby - she loves the water. As long as it's not too cold. Ok, she's a warm water baby.
• Em is a social butterfly with other kids. She sometimes has to warm up to adults, but she always has an interest in kids and babies.
• She's fascinated by faces. I think that's what gets her interest in toys - the types of faces they have.
• She demands attention, and is not subtle about asking for it.
• She has a thirst for new things.
• I'm sure I've forgotten some things. Change with Em is happening at a lightening pace right now.
• Next month - Intro to Solid Foods 101.