My Dearest Claire-Bear,
My sweet, sweet girl, you are 5 months old today. Your little personality is really starting to shine. You’ve perfected quite a few looks these days and you are an absolute ham when meeting other people. You make Daddy and I work very hard for each little gremlin giggle but you’re nothing but smiles and laughs when meeting new people!
Rolling over from your belly to your back is becoming easier, so we’re seeing you perform the feat more and more. You still have zero interest in learning to roll to your belly since laying flat on your back is your preferred position. You love to lay completely flat, so much so, that your head is looking a little less round these days! We’re trying to be conscious of helping your little noggin round back out by increasing your tummy time, keeping you off your head (unless you’re sleeping) and by putting pillows underneath to cushion your head when you’re on the floor playing.
This month had a lot of changes. We finally introduced you to formula. You are definitely not a fan, but will finally take straight formula at night when you’re starving. You have been exploring your voice and you’ve discovered the world of squeals and screeches. Unfortunately for us you’ve expanded those sounds into screams when you’re unhappy. The squeals and screeches of delight were very cute for the first 4 days, but as you experimented with volume and tone we’ve had to start introducing you to some boundaries.
We’ve begun telling you, “no” when your frustration screeches hit “migraine” level or you decide to yank on my hair. We are working on things like “pet the dog gently” to help instill good behavior towards animals, and I’ve been more conscious of signing things like “please, thank you, all done, and more.”
You’re starting to really enjoy signing. At clinic I have to wear a mask so you can’t see my face, and in order to entertain you while we wait for an hour I sign through all the songs I know. Your face lit up when I started signing ‘you’re happy and you know it,” and towards the end you even started giggling! It was amazing for me to see you recognize the signing since I know you weren’t reacting to my facial expressions since all you could see were my glasses-obstructed eyes. It’s great motivation for me to learn even more songs and more ways we can communicate using sign.
Your sleep is still a mystery to us. You’ve slowly transitioned from 4 naps down to about 3, with a small 10 minute catnap as a 4th nap once in a while. And while we try to put you down around 8pm, you tend to be a night owl. Some days 8pm bed time is a success, and other times you stay up past my bedtime! On the positive side of this, you also like to sleep in. If you go to bed at 10:30 we know you’ll sleep until about 10 the next day. If you’re up till midnight, we usually end up having to wake you up around 10 to maximize our chances of you falling asleep at a decent hour that night. As much as I think a night schedule and predictability would be nice, your Daddy loves getting to spend time with you in the evenings after he gets home from work.
You love to have piano time with me, and you love to listen to me sing. (Oh, you flatter me so!) You’ll happily sit on my lap while I play piano and then you’ll happily join in and start banging the keys with your little hands. For whatever reason you’re really good at hitting notes that work well with what I’m playing! I’ll be talking about what notes make up chords, or the difference between high C and low C and you’ll reach out and end up hitting the notes I’m talking about! Of course I like to exclaim you’re a musical prodigy, but logically you’re just closest to those notes.
Not only do you like to play music, but you love to dance to music. Nothing cheers you up and puts a smile on your face like dancing does. We can dance in front of you, we can make you do a little boogie, or you can even kick your legs and flail those arms when we play the radio. In every form, you’re diggin’ it!
Towards the end of your 4th month you really, really, work hard on your belly to try to crawl. You just want to be moving! You thrash your little legs and try to push up which results frequently in you face-planting while you push your little hiney high in the air. You’ll be on the go before we know it. For now you settle for pushing yourself in little circles on your belly an scooting a few inches.
This month I really think has been a big transition for you. Your personality is really starting to become more defined and you’ve developed little quirks already. We can tell you’re going to be a very determined, hard working, animal loving, musical little girl. We couldn’t be more proud to be your parents. Oh, and it doesn’t hurt that you’re getting cuter every day!
