Sunday, July 01, 2012

Alice: Five Months

Dear Alice,

Mommy is just totally dropping the ball. Used to be, I'd post these right away, but well....you and I have just gotten so BUSY lately.

You are just a major delight. Every day you smile a lot and laugh a lot and have fun with me and Daddy and your toys. This past month you've mastered rolling over from your back to your belly. You've rolled from tummy to back also, but only about three times, and in between those times you apparently forget that you've done it and so you get really mad once you're done playing on your tummy and you want to go back over again. So you squawk at me and I'm like "You've DONE this before!" But you don't appreciate that, and of course, I help you.


You're sitting up all by yourself like a big girl, and though you're still a bit wobbly and eventually tip over in some way, you've mastered it pretty well. You can sit for minutes at a time and reach for toys and you look at your feet and bend allll the way down to put your toes in your mouth. It's so adorable, and I can't believe my tiny little newborn is now able to sit up!


You still love your bath times and now you kick in the water and reach for the rinse cup so you can chew and suck on it. You LOVE to have a washcloth to suck on and bathtime is one of our favorite parts of the day. Daddy and I always try to do it together too. At the end, we actually have to brush your hair now - it's coming in really nicely, and a bit darker than we expected. I am still hoping you will have curls, but it's still too soon to tell.

We started you on solid foods this month, but only a little bit and very slowly. You didn't like the rice cereal and neither did your diapers, which remained rather empty - and it gave you a tummy ache. So we backed off of rice cereal and tried oatmeal, and you really seemed to like it better. Next we tried vegetables: carrots were first and you LOVED them! You were grabbing at the spoon and grinning! Mommy makes your baby food, for the most part, and these were homemade and I am so happy you liked it! Next up, we did squash and you liked that even better than carrots. So mommy now has to make sure she has squash and carrots on hand. It's so much fun to watch you try these things and get excited about it. It makes me excited to try new things and I just love to introduce things to you - everyone always says it makes you appreciate things when you have a child, and they are right. Sweet potatoes are also a favorite! We're slowly making our way through the orange vegetables, and soon we will try green and yellow, and then fruit. When you eat off the spoon you're so funny and cute - you grab the spoon and reach for me and pull my hands toward your mouth and then suck the food right off. Eating makes you so excited and you get impatient if I move even the tiniest bit too slow! You're also still nursing quite a bit, but I don't mind, even in the middle of the night. Maybe even especially then.



Despite the fact that you are five months old, you're still not a great sleeper. Some of it is that there is just so much to see and learn, and you're so alert, that you don't want to waste a second sleeping. But you're slowly getting better. You wake me up quite a bit at night, and some of it is just habit I think, and it's something we'll have to work on. But at night, when you're hungry and you call for me I go to your nursery and we rock and even when I'm tired and sleepy, I watch you nurse and doze and we rock, and I try to remember how little you still are, despite how BIG you seem. In the mornings, Daddy will bring you in to me and you and I snuggle and sleep in a little bit, and you usually wake me up and give me the biggest smile in the world, like you can't believe that I'm next to you. It's such a great feeling.

This past month you've got to try so many new things: you've stayed up late, played with your cousins (some of whom you just met) met new uncles, gone swimming, stayed with someone other than your parents (that's right, you had a babysitter for the first time!)...you're just experiencing so much and I know you're really having fun. You and I took a trip to see our family out in Albert, Kansas and you had so much fun playing with your cousins and aunts and uncles. They loved having you around and it was so nice for us to get out and about.





Daddy had to go away this month for a conference and he missed you so, so much! Every night he'd call and talk to me and make sure to send you kisses. It was such a long trip for him, and you missed him too.

Yes, this last month has just flown by, and you've gotten so much bigger and are still so amazing. I can't wait to see what you'll do next, but as always - don't get bigger too fast. I want you to stay this little forever!

Love,

Mommy