blackmoondog

[Insert obligitory comment about it being 5 months already.]

Zoe is turning into a little person! Who'd a thunk?! :)

We're currently on the trailing edge of the most recent development leap and she just had another growth spurt. Zoe now weighs in at 14.5lbs and measures 24.5in long. As a result, I had to finally order her new car seat because she's an inch and a half from outgrowing the infant seat. Many people have said we'll be sad when we can't use the infant carrier part of the seat but she tends to wake up when the car stops anyway. Especially if we are arriving at home. The child has a knack for waking up when we hit the driveway, either on foot or in the car. What is really going to kill me is when I can no longer haul her to the cosleeper on the breastfeeding pillow (that day is rapidly approaching, as is the day that she's too long for the cosleeper). I suppose I should start trying to carry her another way sooner rather than later.

In addition to her physical growth, new behaviors are popping up. Zoe is very close to being able to roll over from back to tummy (last month she started rolling tummy to back) and the effort cheeses her off quite a bit. It looks like she's gonna be a mover. She's also discovered that her tongue can extend out of her mouth and uses that to push out her binky when she doesn't want us to get it in. Sitting up is rapidly approaching. She needs help to get into a sitting position but went from falling over even when propped up to nearly sitting by herself in a week or two. Another recent arrival is little grabby hands. And every thing she can get in her hands goes straight to the mouth. While screaming in the car is now a rarity, we are losing the ability to get her to sleep reliably in the car because she pulls out her binky, plays with it, and then drops it.

I finally got my copy of The Wonder Weeks, no thanks to Amazon. They waited over a month to send the email saying they couldn't get the book. After ordering from one of their outside dealers, the book was here in less than two weeks. *sigh* Anyhoo, I'm really glad to have it to use as a roadmap for her development leaps. We're just coming out of the 19 week leap which is when babies learn that sequences of actions make up events. Now instead of crying when I set her down to put on the breastfeeding pillow, she smiles and seems to recognize that milkies are imminent. That rules. She's been in a great mood this week with lots of smiles and laughing. I'm really hoping the next fussy phase can hold off until after our trip to the Bay Area on Memorial Day weekend.

Things on deck for Month Six:

- Solid foods! She hasn't started grabbing our food yet but she watches every bite that goes in our mouths. Yesterday at mom's group she didn't want to nurse until I was eating my sandwich.

- Baby sign. The summer session of the Parent Participation classes is going to include teaching some baby sign.

- Teeth? The 6 month-olds in mom's group are getting in their first teeth. I've been watching Zoe's gums but haven't seen anything yet.