5 Months!

**Pictures are at the bottom**

On Sunday, December 2, Jack turned 5 months old! It's crazy to think that next month he will be half way to his one year old birthday!  I don't know how it's possible, but I feel as though these past 5 months have been the longest 5 months of my life, and yet they seem to have flown by too. Weird! Overall, I feel like Jack is pretty much the same, but all of his normal behaviors and activities have simply increased.

Jack has always been a very alert baby, but I definitely feel that this has increased a lot.  He is looking all around and grabbing everything.  One of the activities that he loves is when I hold him facing outward and we walk around the house, guided by his reaching hands, and then I tell him what everything is. For example, he will reach toward the door handle so I walk to the door handle and let him grab it and hold it. While he is grabbing it I will say, "door handle. door handle. Jack that is the door handle."  He gets really excited, and then will look around at the next item he will want to grab.  I do have to be careful though because he will grab my hair and my glasses.  I usually let him grab my glasses and slobber all over them, but when he gets my hair I have to take it back really fast because this child has a super strong grip, and it hurts soooo badly when he grabs my hair. Little stinker.

Jack is still a very active baby (which still makes for a very tired mommy). He rolls around all over the place. I really can't leave him alone too long any more because when I come back to check on him, he will be all the way across the room!  He is going to be so happy when he finally figures out how to crawl and eventually walk.  He is much more interested in moving than sitting. He is really not a fan of sitting at all.  He can do it by himself, but then he just wants to move so it doesn't last too long (plus he will topple over...still working on that whole balance thing).  He is oh so close to figuring out how to crawl.  If he could just coordinate his arms and legs he would take off in no time. Part of me is glad he has not figured it out yet, but then part of me can't wait for him to figure it out because I know he is going to love being able to move on his own.

He continues to love standing (with us holding him of course). I'll hold his arms and then he will walk around as I help him balance. He loves to do this.  Seriously, Jack is gonna be one happy camper when he can finally walk.

Jack is totally into textures right now. He will rub his hands on everything, and just rub them over and over and over the surface. It is so cute. He will rub my face, the wall, the door, the grass, the pillows, anything that we let him touch. He is so into the different textures and materials. He also will open and close his fingers...like in a scratching fashion, on everything too. We can see him and hear him scratching his sheets when he is taking naps. Cracks me up! He also holds his own hands a lot, and of course is still touching and eating his toes.

He loves eating his solids now. We've given him rice cereal, but mainly he gets organic veggies that we've pureed for him.  He does really well with this, and seems to enjoy it a lot. He gets so excited, and just opens his mouth wide for that next bite. I love it!!

Jack is still a very vocal baby.  He talks and talks and talks. I don't think he is every silent for very long.  He is either babbling, squealing, screaming, or crying....but rarely silent.  He has definitely figured out the happy squeal, and does it ALL the time.  If we are in the backyard he will just squeal and squeal sooo loudly that I can literally hear it echo through the neighborhood. Sorry neighbors!  This has earned Jack his newest nickname: Squeakers!! :)

Jack's temperament is still a challenge for me, but it is getting a lot better.  He is definitely having more and more happy moments, and he is becoming easier to console when he has his crying fits, but I think the hard part is he seems to favor the extremes. He is either really happy or really mad/sad. And he will change between the two extremes at the drop of a hat. So one moment we will be playing or reading happily, and then the next moment he will just be screaming, with no warning at all. So that still makes me nervous when we have to leave the house, because I never know when those random meltdowns are going to hit. I'm not gonna lie, he totally gets this from me! ha!

It's funny because things that I would think a baby would not like (baths, diaper changes, clothing changes, etc) Jack absolutely loves, and then things that I would think a baby would like (sitting in the bumbo, using the baby swing, playing on his own) Jack is really not a fan of.  Bath time is really fun with Jack. He loves the water and the water faucet. I think he would stay in the bath for a long time if we would let him. :)

Socially, he likes people and will smile at everyone, but only if he is meeting people in groups of around 1-5 people. When we are around a larger groups of people, who are talking and interacting with him, he gets very overwhelmed and usually starts crying. We are fine at stores, but if there is a large gathering at a home, then it seems to stress him out, so we find a quiet room for him, or sometimes we just end up leaving.

Jack seems to really enjoy music.  Jared will put him in the baby bjorn, and play the piano or guitar. Jack will hold onto Jared's arms and just babble away while Jared plays. He loves it, and I think it is so stinkin' cute. I love that Jared can play musical instruments with Jack because I would love to see that become something that Jack will continue to enjoy and love as he gets older.  We also play Mozart for him while he is on his play mat, and he enjoys that too. If I do not play the Mozart music, and I leave Jack alone, he will start crying pretty soon. But if I play the Mozart music, then he lasts a lot longer on his own. Interesting, right?! 

Jack also likes it when we sing to him.  Right now he is totally into the "Doe a Deer" song from the Sound of Music.  He also likes this other little tune that I made up for him where I just repeat the phrases "LaLaLaLaLa, MaMaMaMaMa, PaPaPaPaPa, TaTaTaTaTa" in descending notes. The La's are all one note, then the Ma's go down a note and are all that one note, and so on. I try to accentuate my mouth with each syllable so he can see how I am producing the sounds. He tends to think that is pretty funny.  Beyond that I sing other songs from musicals that I like. So far he is a fan of The Sound of Music, Big River, Wicked, and Phantom of the Opera. He does not seem to be a fan of Les Mis, which totally bums me out because it is my favorite musical ever. But that's ok. :)

I am loving that Jack is connecting with us more and more. I love that when I smile at him he smiles back at me. I love that we can just stare at each other and babble back and forth for long periods of time.  I love that he reaches for me to pick him up now. I love that he smiles at me when I come to pick him up from his naps. I love that he cracks up when I make silly face at him. I love that he smiles really big when Jared throws him up into the air.  I love that he gives Jared huge smiles when Jared comes home from work. Five months in and I am just loving him soooo much!!

Here are some pics from his 5 month photo shoot...

Here are some pics from the past month....