5 months

Boing!


Here's Elias striking his monthly pose alongside the Guitar Hero guitar at five months and two days. I'm not sure what his length is these days but I was able to weigh him on Friday and he's packed on a couple of pounds since his four month photo, putting him right around the 18 pound mark. Check out the wrist band of fat threatening to take over his hand:


Since the four month mark, which feels like yesterday, we continue to struggle with a few things I thought would be easier or that he'd have outgrown by now. In fact, when I took him to see our pediatrician on Friday for what turned out to be his first minor cold, she mentioned something about how charming but challenging he's been which both validated and kind of depressed me. On the one hand, it's nice to know that I'm not going totally crazy (okay, I'm exaggerating a little) over the usual baby stuff, that Elias does seem to be chugging along according to his very own textbook (for example, the spit up situation typically improving right around the four month mark which, sadly, didn't exactly happen). But on the other hand, the thought of all these other new parents out there with fat, easy-going five month old cherubs does make me, I have to admit, a tad envious. Don't get me wrong, I wouldn't trade him for the world (and yes, I realize things could be a lot worse). He's truly the apple of my eye and I love him to pieces, but there are days when it's hard to see any light at the end of this spitty, sleep-deprived, occasionally teary-eyed tunnel.

Otherwise, Elias has been busy working on the drive to be upright and mobile. He's now able to sit unassisted for short periods of time. I wouldn't put him in the front of a shopping cart just yet, but I can plop him down on the floor or on my lap and he'll practice good trunk control for awhile, protective arms encircling him and at the ready to catch him should he decide to throw himself back or attempt a forward nose dive. These movements seem to have a purpose but I'm pretty confident it would not end well if I were to let his body continue in its trajectory toward, usually, the floor. Sometimes it seems like he wants to go from sitting to his tummy, cushioned by his face, of course. He's rolled from his back to his tummy on his own a couple of times but usually still needs a little help getting the legs up and over. Once on his tummy he pivots, "swims", and even creeps a bit if you provide his feet with something to push off of. It helps if a favorite stuffed animal or toy is placed just out of reach, tempting his continuing desire to put everything in his mouth. His hand-eye coordination seems to have improved since the four month mark but he still seems occasionally frustrated if he can't get something in his mouth, usually the book I just happen to be reading to him at the time. I try to let him explore the board books however he'd like, but I have to say, the rigid, controlling part of me sometimes really wishes he would just look at the pictures while I read him a story.

After a couple of weeks of research and a few test spins, we decided on a stroller (we've been using the "snap 'n' go" frame with our car seat up to this point). With so many options out there I was really torn about what to get. Before Elias was born I had visions of myself going out for regular runs with a jogging stroller. But I don't really jog all that regularly anymore and it'll be around or below freezing here in the Boston area for the next six months (give or - hopefully - take). Plus, I find it incredibly annoying that the front wheels on most jogging strollers are permanently locked. That doesn't sound terribly convenient and they're as big, if not bigger, than a full-size stroller. After I crossed that option off the list, I became torn between getting a lightweight stroller and a slightly more substantial umbrella stroller, wondering if we really needed anything more than that. We tried out a Maclaren at Babies 'R' Us but $200 seemed like too much to spend on a glorified umbrella stroller that we can get as a supplement for $20-70 somewhere down the road. Then Neal sent me a link to the Inglesina Zippy, which, at well over $300, seemed a little extravagant but got good reviews. The sleek style started to really grow on me. And it's not like it's as expensive as a Bugaboo. In the end, though, as we usually do, we went with the equally well rated but slightly more practical option of the Graco Quattro Tour Sport. Which is hilarious, actually, because one thing I definitely didn't want when I was pregnant was a travel system, i.e. a full size stroller that you can plop the car seat onto for the first few months. The stroller we got is essentially the "sport" version of the Graco travel system and, although it doesn't exactly correspond to our car seat (our car seat is "French Roast" while our stroller is "Soho", but both are green and brown), matches pretty well. I'm still glad we have the "snap 'n' go" frame, however, because the full-size stroller takes up most of our trunk. It'll be good to have a slightly more compact option for traveling, trips to Costco, etc. So far I'm happy with our decision. Here's the lad in the stroller sans car seat for his first spin facing out onto the world.


For some reason, he seems to get a kick out of the feel of the BundleMe lining I recently added to the winter gear, which keeps him warm and toasty in his car seat or stroller. I'm convinced that it's thanks solely to the recent addition of the BundleMe that Elias is suddenly able to fall asleep, and occasionally stay asleep once we get to where we're going, in his car seat. Maybe he was just cold all these months and that's why he's been a "challenging" baby? Maybe the BundleMe will turn him into "a whole new baby". More on the endless quest to that effect in another post. I'm also crafting a post in my mind dedicated to all the things I'd do differently, all the products I'd think twice about the next time around, as well as a few things I wouldn't change after five interesting months with a new baby. Maybe that'll be ready for the six month update.