I
can’t believe 5 whole months have gone by since our sweet baby boy’s
birth. It just doesn’t seem possible! Mitchell is growing by leaps and
bounds and learning
new things every day. He’s reaching for toys and putting everything in
his mouth, including his toes. He can roll from back to front and
front to back, but he spends most of the time on his stomach. He
actually prefers to sleep on his stomach as well.
At first, it made me pretty nervous since all the experts say that
‘back is best’, but as soon as he learned to roll, it was clear that he
preferred his tummy and I can’t spend all night flipping him back over.
He’s got amazing head control and can push himself
all the way up on his arms. He’s actually pushed up on his knees for a
few seconds as well. He can also sit up all by himself! He’s still a
little wobbly, but he’s gaining more balance every day and sat
unassisted for almost ten minutes over the weekend.
I keep telling him that he can slow down a little bit, but he’s going
on full steam ahead!
He
eats cereal twice a day now. I’d like to hold off on the fruits and
veggies until he is 6 months. The majority of his nutrition should
still come from nursing/bottles
and I don’t want to fill him up on other stuff. I was hoping that
eating cereal at night would help him sleep longer, but that hasn’t
really been the case. He usually gets up at about once a night to eat,
but goes right back to sleep. But our little cat
napper is sleeping in longer stretches occasionally and I think we are
inching our way towards a more regular nap schedule. One thing that we
have really tried to help Mitch learn is how to fall asleep by himself.
With Evie, we were constantly rocking her
and feeding her to sleep and she’d wake up as soon as we laid her
down. We could rarely lay her down awake at night. I’ll lay Mitch
down, he’ll flip right over onto his belly, fuss for a second or two
(maybe), stick his thumb in his mouth and go to sleep.
It is AWESOME!
Mitchell
is the sweetest, most personable little baby. He loves to smile and
will light up when you talk to him. He started going through a little
bit of separation
anxiety this past month and could be a little fussy if someone other
than Pat or I (or his babysitter) held him. I think it’s a lot worse if
he can see me or hear my voice so when I hand him off to someone, I try
to keep my distance. If he gets really fussy
and isn’t able to be comforted at all by the person holding him, I’ll
take him back. I want him to be secure in the fact that I will always
be there for him, but that also know that he’s safe with other people.
It seems to be working because he was a lot
better over the weekend! Mitch wakes up happy almost every day and
seeing his little grin makes getting up for work a little bit easier.
He can be a stoic little guy, though, and he will scrunch up his little
face in concentration like he’s trying to figure
stuff out at times. He coos and ‘talks’ to us often and definitely
makes himself heard. He’s a very laid back most of the time, but if
Mitchell needs something (sleep, a diaper change, or just to be held),
he will let you know! He loves his sister and will
follow her actions around the room. And speaking of Evie, she is so,
so sweet to him. Honestly, she is the best big sister. She speaks to
him in soft tones, and is just so gentle and loving towards him. She
sometimes gets upset and frustrated with him
if he spits up or puts one of her toys in his mouth. I’ve been telling
her that he’s just a baby and that he doesn’t know any better, and it’s
our job to teach him. The other day, he grabbed a handful of my hair
and pulled, and I mimicked Evie and said “Mitchell
why you doing that?!” Evie looked over and said “Mama – it’s cause
he’s just a baby”. So she does listen to me sometimes! Like I said,
it’s obvious that Mitch loves Evie. She will talk to him and he will
smile and coo. This will only encourage her to
do it more – she’ll say “Look Mama! He’s happy with me!” 
No comments:
Post a Comment