Busy, busy, busy, that's my little man. It seems like he changes overnight. Two weeks ago he couldn't sit up without support; a week ago he could, and his balance improves every day. His grandpa predicts he'll be crawling by next month -- we'll see. He'll need to figure out that he can push himself up and move around while he's on his tummy; for now he usually just complains when he's horizontal. His favorite position continues to be standing, and it's hard to bend him when that's what he wants! If I take his hands to pull him to sitting, he'll lock those little legs out straight and go right to standing.
Ways we play now: There's "bend and snap" (tee hee), an exciting game that involves John standing with a toy in his hand (mouth), dropping said to on the floor, and then bending down to pick it up and start over. (All of this with Mama's hands for support of course.) When I can get him sitting he likes to reach for toys and pick them up (I put them a little further away each time, and he's getting the hang of it). Actually I should say he likes to reach for whatever he can get his hands on, doesn't have to be toys. (He'd especially like to get his hands on whatever we're eating or drinking.) Earlier today he was trying to get my computer mouse. Often I'll pick him up and something will come along -- a blanket, a washcloth, those things that protect the arms of the chairs. He's also started reaching out to be picked up, which is adorable. And when I nurse him now, there's usually a little hand touching my face, pinching my nose and lips.
Whatever he can grab still goes in his mouth of course, but he's also started to experiment with banging on stuff. He smacks his rattles on the floor, exersaucer, high chair, etc; or if his hand is empty, he might just slap with his palm. Today while he was nursing he started smacking his own leg; when I looked down he grinned at me. That grin with its two little teeth is awesome. Less awesome is the way he now bites sometimes when he's nursing. I don't know if he's old enough to understand what he's doing, but I'm hoping he'll stop before the top teeth come in -- yikes!
When Joe and I were discussing all John's achievements the other day, I mentioned that about the only thing he hadn't started doing yet was making consonant sounds in all his vocalizing. Wouldn't you know it, that very night (I'm not kidding) the little stinker started saying "guh". For the past few days he's been "talking" a lot more (as opposed to squealing and grunting). He's so cute. He definitely knows and loves his mommy and daddy. Today was Joe's first real day back at work, and John was so excited to play with him when he came home. You could tell he missed his daddy.
He's kinda quit sleeping through the night recently (since we got back from Cleveland I think), so I'm back to getting up for 2am feedings. I'm not too bothered by it -- we're hoping it's a growth spurt, because his weight gain is still low and the pediatrician isn't happy about it. To be totally honest, we're not really thrilled with our pediatrician, as she seems to have given us bad advice that may have contributed to this "problem" in the first place. But we are a little concerned, and hoping his rate of gain will pick back up at least a little. Seriously though, if I didn't mention it you probably wouldn't even know. The kid is alert, active, happy, healthy, and right on target developmentally. So we're not *too* worried.
I can't believe he's already 5 months old. It's getting hard to keep up with all the things he's doing now. He's so much fun!