Five Months of Macey

My sweet Macey Jean,

Five months ago today, I held you in my arms for the first time. My goodness, these days are flying by. You're almost half a year old, and I know the next several months are going to bring some of the "big" milestones-- sitting, crawling, pulling up, walking, and talking. I absolutely love watching you grow and learn. If I had to use a single word to describe who you are today, it would be simply sweet.

So, here's you, Macey Jean, at 5 months old:

• You roll both ways now. You've been rolling tummy to back for a few months now. You just mastered back to tummy a few weeks ago.
• You are starting to sit up on your own, though you lean way forward like a tripod and tip over after 10 seconds or so. You're getting there!
• You are so vocal. I don't remember your brother being this vocal. I remember a lot of "ah goo" cooing from him-- and you do that too-- but you also yell and do vocal play a lot. It's like you're testing your voice out and you really like the sound of it. It'll be interesting to see when you start babbling. Your brother was a late babbler (10 months) and talker (2 years old). I have a feeling you'll be on the early side, but we'll see.
• You grab at everything. When I'm holding you, I joke that I have 4 hands, 2 of which are out of control. If I'm holding a drink, you immediately grab the cup and bring it to your mouth. You've flipped my (paper) dinner plate out of my hand. Your hands are busy, busy! You're also very good at grabbing toys and bringing them to your mouth.
• You like when I stand you up and let you take small steps. You also are starting to jump in your jumperoo now that you can finally touch the ground.
• You laugh a lot. My favorite thing in the world is when your brother makes you laugh.
• You typically take 1 longer nap in the afternoon (1.5-2.5 hours) and 2 shorter naps (45 minutes) during the day.
• You're still doing a 4-6 hour stretch to start the night (sometimes more-- your record is 8), and then waking every 2-3 hours after that. I don't always nurse you back to sleep when you wake now though; sometimes the paci is sufficient.
• You're still swaddled. I can't seem to break you of it! I swaddled your brother until he was 8 months old and swore I'd never do it again (I think I even mentioned burning the Miracle Blanket back then...), but it seems I'm heading down that road again anyway. Whenever I try to wean you from it (one arm out, or using Merlin's Magic Sleep Suit), you end up smacking yourself in the face and getting frantic.
• You are drooling so much! You soak through a few bibs a day. Camden didn't get his first tooth until he was 10 months old. I've got to believe that, with all of the drooling and chewing on things that you've been doing, your first tooth will be here sooner than that.
• We've started you on solids. You have tried: peaches, apples, prunes, bananas, and sweet potatoes. You typically eat solids once a day (between 1-2 oz). You still prefer breastmilk.
• You love being worn facing forward in a baby carrier. I've taken you to the grocery store facing out a few times now and it's like a day at an amusement park to you. All of the lights, and colors, and faces! It's exciting stuff.
• You continue to love your exersaucer, jumperoo, Oball, Minnie Mouse, and Sophie.
• According to our home scale, you weigh 13 lbs, 3.5 oz, which means you have doubled your birth weight!  Yay!
• You are so pleasant, so easygoing, and so, so smiley!

We love you, sweet girl. We're so glad you're here and you're ours. Happy 5 months to you.

 

I love you,
Mommy

What having a 3-year-old is like.

After asking for something tonight, I requested that Camden use his manners and say "please" (like I do multiple times a day, and he's getting much better at remembering...most of the time). Tonight, though, he decided that the word 'please' wasn't going to come out of his mouth. Because, you know, 3-year-olds have to exert their power from time to time:

Me: Camden, use your manners and say 'please'.
Camden: But...but...
Me: No buts. Use your manners.
Camden: BUT I DON'T KNOW WHAT YOU'RE SAYING! I DON'T KNOW WHAT 'PLEASE' IS!

I guess I should give him points for creativity?

**

A few minutes later, this conversation took place:

Me: Camden, eat your banana, please.

Camden: But...but...I don't want to eat it. It's yucky!
Me: Camden, you love bananas. They're not yucky.
Camden: But...but...do you want me to be a monkey? Bananas are for monkeys!

Again, with the creativity...

**

Another few minutes pass:

Me (speaking quietly, not directly to Camden): You're really pushing my buttons tonight.
Camden (looks me up and down): What?! I don't see your buttons! Where are your buttons, Mommy?

Yep. That pretty much sums up life with a 3-year-old.

But man- I love this kid.

My Life in Bullets

• Camden is sick again. Poor kid can't catch a break this winter. This time, it's some sort of virus that has resulted in a rash covering his chest, stomach, and back. He also has had a low-grade fever, a runny nose, and has generally felt pretty awful. We keep hearing, "It hurts! It HURTS! IT HURTS!" throughout the day. I did take him to the doctor today just to verify that we are, in fact, dealing with a virus and not an ear infection or something like that. Virus was confirmed, which means all we can do is wait it out. I keep telling myself that he's building up his immune system in preparation for preschool in the fall.
• Macey's sleep still leaves something to be desired. She has really taken some steps back in the past few weeks in the napping department. She has now decided that putting herself to sleep is overrated and instead of sleeping when I lay her in her crib, it's much more fun to scream at the top of her lungs. And by "scream", I do mean screaming-- not crying. She just yells and yells until I go into her room to check on her. The second she sees me, the screaming ceases, a big grin appears, and I swear she says, "haaaaaiiiiiii!" I think I'm being worked.
• On that note, I'm thinking some dreaded sleep training is in our future. Not of the cry it out variety, because I think I've made it pretty clear over the years on this blog that CIO is not for me. I'm thinking more along the lines of doing some Baby Whisperer stuff, but we shall see. I thought if I did everything "right" from the beginning this time (laying her down drowsy but awake, being mindful of her wake times, not letting her nap on me, etc.), I could avoid sleep training altogether. But, it looks like Macey might have other plans.
• Other than our sleep woes, Macey is pretty darn awesome. Take tonight, for example. She was overtired with red rimmed eyes from a series of 30 minute naps all day long. Yet, she smiled through it all. She's a trooper, that one. She's rolling both ways now, and kind of sitting up-- she's like a little tripod when she tries to sit. I'll save the rest of my Macey updates for her 5 month post in a week.
• Now do you see why I used bullet points? I'm all over the place with these random updates.

And just because a post is never complete without a picture:

Preschool Tour

Matt found a conversation he had with Camden last night particularly amusing. He was putting Camden to bed and they were talking about how much fun it was going to be for Camden to visit his future preschool the next day.

"But Mommy says I can't say 'My penis needs to pee' at school," Camden informed Matt matter-of-factly.

"Okay," Matt said, "So what are you going to say instead?"

Camden thought about it for a few seconds before responding, "Just 'penis'".

For the record, that's not exactly what I was going for. I was thinking something more along the lines of, "I need to pee" or "I have to go to the potty."

And also, for the record? He did declare that his penis needed to pee during our preschool tour today. Oh well. You win some, you lose some.

So, yes- we went on a tour of Camden's future preschool today. This is the preschool that both of my nephews (now 5 and 7) attended so it came highly recommended. Camden won't be starting until late August, but since registration begins soon, the director thought it would be a good idea for us to come tour now. Since my nephew, Will (better known as Camden's BFF), will also be starting preschool in the fall, he and my sister tagged along for our tour.

It was a fun morning. We checked out the playground first (priorities, you know), and then got to visit a couple of different classrooms. Camden and Will were very impressed with the toy selections in each room and wasted no time making themselves at home. This school also has a "discovery room", which I found especially neat. The discovery room is essentially a small-scale museum, where the students go to learn about different topics. The current topic is dinosaurs and the students were making volcanoes this week.

I was impressed to learn that this school has a Spanish teacher, so the students will have early exposure to another language. They will get to visit the Chapel twice a month, since the preschool is part of a church. I'm also very excited about this aspect of the school, as I'm looking forward to getting back into church ourselves soon. This preschool has a very low teacher turnover rate; most teachers have been there at least 4 or 5 years. Like the director said today: these are people who truly love what they do, because they most certainly aren't in it for the money. Gotta love that kind of honesty!

We wrapped up the tour by visiting the cafeteria where the students will eat lunch. It was a large room filled with long tables and tiny chairs. Camden saw the room and announced, "I'm ready for my lunch now!" I think he and Will were both disappointed when it was time to head home.

When school starts in the fall, they'll be attending three mornings a week. Of course, I get emotional thinking about my little boy going to school, but I'm also very excited for him. He's ready. I've known that for a while, but seeing how well he did during the tour this morning confirmed it for me. He held my hand for a little while when we first arrived, but then he let go and played on his own. We can only hope that I do as well letting go in the fall.

Posting in front of the school sign (name removed, obviously) before heading inside:

 

Playing some cars:

 

 I loved this moment. He was playing so nicely with Will, and then looked up and said, "Mommy!" before running over and hugging my leg. It was like he forgot I was there for a few minutes. Then after a quick hug, he got right back to playing.

Deja Vu

Camden partaking in some bananas, 4 months old:

 

 

Macey partaking in some oatmeal, 4 months old:

 

Cute grin? Check. "My Auntie is the Best" bib? Yep. Jungle bouncy seat? Yes, sir. Bald head? Affirmative. Playing with foot? Got that, too.