Dear Baby KK,
You are five months old now! Your hair gets lighter by the day. It’s a dusty blonde with a slightly reddish tint, and your eyes are still very light blue! But, despite your light, almost Irish complexion, we all notice some of your Grandpa’s and Daddy’s Chaldean features in your face. It’s fun to see you start to look more and more like who you will be!
You started eating baby oatmeal mixed with a bit of formula or breastmilk to help with weight gain. You seem to like it and gobble it up while happily sitting in your bouncy chair. As far as the formula goes, I was using Neocate, the formula your brother was on. However, it made you really, really gassy, so we tried Similac Alimentum, and you did better with that! As suspected, you can handle a small percentage of dairy in your diet (alimentum is less than 2%) but can’t handle it all day, every day. I’m happy because Similac Alimentum has fewer ingredients I don’t love, like corn syrup. You still get 95% breastmilk, but, I wanted to test a formula in case I ran out of my stash (it’s getting low.)
You seem very interested in what we’re eating, but I’m waiting to give you any food other than oatmeal until you can sit up a little better in your high chair. I whipped out the baby brezza and washed the wee sprout cups, so I’m ready to start in a couple of weeks! I didn’t make baby food for your brother, so I’m excited and nervous about that!
Speaking of sitting, I’ve noticed you’re content hanging out most of the time. While your brother was a fan of constant movement (I used to call him happy feet), you are so glad just to hang out. Don’t get me wrong, you splash in the tub and kick your feet in the bouncer, but you are also content to hang out and observe. I can tell your personality is developing into quite the observer. Maybe this is just the nature of being a little brother?!?! That being said, you LOVE to converse with me. We talk back and forth, although your babbling sounds more like raptor speak than baby babble.
We moved you to your crib at night, and I think you are happy to have more room! We followed the Taking Cara Babies ABC’s of Sleep like we did with your brother, and after just one night, you’ll put yourself to sleep every night. Your wake-ups at night are becoming less frequent and shorter-lived. I’m thankful that minus the four-month sleep regression, you were always a pretty good sleeper.
We read books, nurse, then I rock and sing to you until you lean over to your crib, signaling you are ready for bed. You are taking around three naps a day. The first one is often in the stroller as we walk Nala later in the morning or head to take your brother to preschool. It has been lasting 30-60 minutes. The second nap is generally longer 1-2 hours. And just like since you were born, the last nap of the day is a beast. So often, you skip it, leading to an overtired baby. I can get a nap if I lay with you, but I can’t always do that. All told, though, as long as you’re fed, it isn’t that big of a deal if you skip it. You get cranky but can usually hang through KJ’s bedtime routine before getting to your own. I have noticed you wake up more at night when you don’t get that last nap in the day.
Another first, we started using the big boy stroller attachment instead of the car seat with our Britax stroller insert, and the seat slightly leaned back for head support. When I think you’ll nap, I still use the car seat. However, when it’s in between naps, and we take a walk or head up to the park, you ride in the stroller seat. You seem to like it but are content to ride either way, so we still use the car seat attachment most of the time. I’m thankful you never really had an issue with the car seat since you spent a lot of time in the last few months.
During the day, your attention span isn’t quite as long as it has been in the past. You like to be entertained. You still love your activity mat, your swing, and bouncer “baby stations,” but you cap out at 15 minutes before you’re bored. Like most babies, you want to be held and come along to see the world, so we started using the Ergo 360 or embrace more for front carrying facing out. We also pulled out the activity center, and you love to sit in that for a while too!
It’s so big we keep it outside for you to sit in meanwhile your brother plays (kid loves to be outside), and I’m going to order a jumper for inside (I’m eyeing this one because it folds away). You LOVE your Daddy so so so much. He can make you laugh from a mile away. You are always happy to sit with him, play with his face, and talk to him.
Like KJ, Daddy and the Baby Einstein light-up toy is among your favorite toys. You also love your Love Every books and teether (new, I didn’t have those for your brother.) You have started some drooling, but nothing so intense you need to wear drool bibs yet. You’ve noticed we have pets. You’re super fascinated by Nala and Missy, both of which still apparently love this phase of babyhood. Nala loves to sniff you, and if I’d let her, lick you. Missy comes out whenever she isn’t in danger of your big brother chasing her and loves to rub on you.
Every day I’m amazed as you morph from baby blob to baby brother. Every day I can see you getting more interested in what your brother is doing, and you can’t wait to jump in. During tummy time, you move all over the place. I’d bet you crawl early, but who knows! We will have to wait and see! Love you so much, baby KK!
Related:
More Baby KK:
- Baby KK Four Months
- Baby KK Three Months (4th Trimester Wrap Up)
- Baby KK Two Months
- Baby KK One Month
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