5 months

Little Baby Luke is now 5 months old. In some ways he is like a completely different baby than the little guy I met in the hospital – and in other ways he is exactly the same. He is becoming so vocal now and last night we had an impromptu concert with Mommy, Daddy and Baby. I’m surprised our dog, Samson, didn’t start howling and join in. Luke does his normal babbling but he really likes the “oooo” sounds. He will giggle just by hearing certain words like “Cookie” and “Poopie” and “Luke” so when we say things like “Cookie Monster” he loses it in a fit of giggles. Or when we ask him if he’s got “Poops in his pants” it is the funniest thing ever. He’s started trying to mimic those sounds and you can almost see his little brain working as he watches us and tries to move his lips and mouth in the same way. He figured it out last night and the three of us were singing/saying “ooooooooooo” in the midst of laughter. I love coming home and seeing him and his laughter is the sweetest sound in the world. I try to get video of him because I absolutely love to hear him.

He’s eating rice cereal and we’ll hopefully introduce him to some veggies soon. The main problem with him eating is by the time I get home from work, he’s usually in the middle of his 3rd nap of the day and when he wakes up he’s usually not very cooperative to eat. It’s kind of hit or miss if he eats at night. Grace has him eating during the day now so at least he will stay in the habit of eating every day. I’m still waiting for him to poop fewer times during the day. That’s one of the disadvantages of breastfeeding. He still poops between 3 – 6 times a day. Oh well.

Luke is a master at rolling now and he can’t stay in one spot in his crib. Thank goodness we have the breathable bumpers around 75% of the crib because he propels himself with such brute force. He also will put himself back to sleep when he wakes up at night unless he’s really really hungry. He usually wakes up around 3:00 or 4:00 a.m. and fusses a little bit. I resist the urge to go get him and within minutes he’s quiet again. It never escalates to a full cry…just some whining.

He has a doctor’s appointment next week with an eye specialist because of amblyopia and strabismus – aka a lazy eye. So we’ll see what the doctor says. It may be easily treated with a patch or maybe eyeglasses or drops. Or maybe it’s so minor that it just needs to be monitored. I’m hoping that treatment now prevents any other issues later in life. My own eye issues (toxoplasmosis and optic neuritis) make me sensitive to any eye problems he may experience and I hope this is the worst of his eye worries.

He is quite the musician and bangs on his toy piano and creates tunes with his little octopus garden toy. I love playing music for him and he loves to be sung to.