Fünf. Viisi. Pięć. Vijf.
However you say it, five is five. And this week, we celebrated Charlotte turning five months old.
For the record, this post said "five" in German, Finnish, Polish, and Dutch, all languages that come from Charlotte's many and diversified ancestors.
Measurements
Since no pediatrician visit was scheduled this month, I'll use my parenting prowess to determine that Charlotte weighs approximately 14.5 pounds and measures 25 inches in length. She's still in size two diapers, but has finally graduated to all of her 3-6 month clothing. With the exception of some chunky baby thighs, the girl is long and wiry, so some of her clothes were too big in the belly, but too short in length, so we broke out all of her new threads. Plus, she has some super cute summer frocks that were begging to make their grand debut.
Milestones & Abilities
The biggest change for Charlotte this month was starting solids! Well... if solids means soupy, lukewarm rice cereal mixed with a ton of boobmilk. Sounds gross, but apparently it's not advisable to share your deep dish pepperoni slice with your five month old.
We actually only started with cereal a few days ago, once I was finally on summer vacation and had more time to play with food. Although the first feeding sessions weren't an all-out feast (her tummy is only the size of a fist, after all), she's slowly progressing to eat more at each meal.
Right now, she gets about a tablespoon of cereal once per day late in the afternoon. She'll take a nap, let's say from 2-4 pm, wake up and nurse, and then an hour or so later will have her cereal.
Scheduling the solids sessions is such a science in itself. I read, I Googled, I sought advice from veteran parents. But in the end, I went with what worked for us: letting Charlotte nurse as much as she wanted and then feeding her later.
As we move on, I'm not quite sure when and how much she'll eat, but like with everything else baby, I know we'll figure it out when we get there. We'll probably continue to go the spoon-fed route (as opposed to baby-led weaning), but I do want to use a combination of prepared foods and homemade goodies. It's all about balancing convenience and life, people.
Other achievements this month:
- Using arms and legs more during tummy time; she can scoot herself in to different positions
- Pulling up to sit or stand easily
- Sitting unsupported for very short periods of time
- Using hands much more pointedly to grab objects (like my poor, shredded hair)
This girl doesn't like to be left alone. Okay, so I'm not one to leave my kid on the roof of my car or anything, but to even run downstairs and change laundry loads means hearing the whimpers of a bored baby upstairs. Charlotte loves to play, sing songs, and watch the occasional episode of Paula's Best Dishes, and that's how we've been spending our days lately.
If nothing else, we'll take her outside to sit on the porch or walk around the neighborhood, and she adores it. She could watch cars and listen to animals all day long.
Speaking of strollers, we also removed the infant bar from our City Mini this month so that Charlotte can ride big-kid style. She loves sitting this way because she can see the trainwrecks at Wal-Mart much easier.
Month Five Moment
A typical summer day outside.
Month Five By The Numbers
- 18: number of verses of "Hush, Little Baby" Kevin will sometimes sing to C before bed
- 2: average length of early morning nap
- 10: baby items currently taking up residence in our living room (books, blanket, bouncer, Bumbo, rattles, teethers, burp cloth)
- 1: loads of Charlotte laundry I do each week since we never followed through on the whole cloth diaper thing, thereby saving my laundry sanity
- 2,000: diapers we're probably going to add to landfills this year
- 2(?): number teeth that may or may not be poking through her lower gums