Quinn: 5 months

 

Hello my boy.  Today you are 5 whole months old.  I can hardly believe it.  Time is going by so quickly and you are growing up so fast.

 

Let's see, what have you been up to in the last couple of weeks?

Well, there have been a few major milestones.

 

You can roll from your back to your tummy, but cannot quite pull your arm out from under your fat belly.

 

You can grab onto anything that gets even close to your hands and you are so fast, too.

 

You are eating cereal, fruit and vegetables every single day.  Mom was a dummy and rushed you a bit from once a day to twice a day on the food and that seemed to upset the balance of your digestive system for a few days so I backed you back down to once a day and things are much better.

 

You laugh and laugh and laugh.  You also are starting to talk to me and dad and your brothers quite a lot.

 

You stare like it's nobody's business.  Sometimes, it seems like you can go a lifetime without blinking once you lock in on something, but you are definitely a boy who concentrates on the world around him.

 

You finally started to like the bathtub and put your feet in the water.  You have also started to splash a bit and sit up in the little bathtub.  Your favorite bath time activity is to have me pour water over your hands while you open and close your tightly clenched fists.

 

You swing your left arm like a gorilla - but hardly swing your right.  Dad thinks that this means you are left handed but I'm not so sure we can make those predictions now.

 

If anyone gets close to your face, you rub their face back and then lean in real slow like a turtle and plant a slobbery open mouthed kiss right on the face.

 

When it's time to eat, or get out of your swing you kick your feet wildly.

 

You have finally moved up in the world to the baby Einstein and you seem to like it.  Standing up has not been your thing.  Your brothers before you never wanted to lay down.  They always wanted to be sitting and standing.  By 5 months, Wyatt was starting to pull himself up on stuff so he could stand.  You?  Well, you my boy are perfectly content laying on the floor and scooting yourself in a circle.  It's good to know that your legs work, and the Einstein is helping you get a little more inteersted in standing so that's a start at least.

 

Dad is the only one who can get you to bed at night.  He has a perfect record, too.  I'm not sure what he does with you, but it's obviously magic.

 

You take zero naps during the day.  If I'm lucky, you'll doze in the car for 20 minutes on the school drop-off or pick-up run, but that's about it.  You're never out for longer than 30 minutes, and that only happens once, maybe twice a day.  Unlike your brothers who always fell asleep in the car, you are perfectly content to look around, eat your toy giraffe, and just hang out.  And, for a boy who has no naps you are remarkably pleasant to be around the majority of the day.  For this, I am grateful.

 

And, no naps seems to mean, at least right now, that you are an excellent sleeper (knock on wood).  Generally speaking, you're out between 8:00-8:30 at night and sleep until at least 7:00 in the morning.  You've been doing this for quite a while now, and I know that there will be some bumps along the road, but your dad and I think it's pretty remarkable and are very grateful that you are so good at sleeping at night.  I'll take a full night over naps any day.

 

Above all else my boy, you are an absolute dream.  I just love spending my days with such a sweet little boy.  You are my littlest buddy and I love you so much.  You are a joy to tickle and snuggle with.  A joy to hold and play with.  It is so much fun to see your eyes sparkle when you are happy, and even when you are ticked off at the world, that's pretty cute, too.  Annoying, but cute.

 

We are so blessed that you are so healthy and happy.  Dad figures you weigh about 21 pounds right now which means you've passed up cousin Jack, even though he's still much longer and seems bigger than you.

 

Love you, love you, love you!