5 months, day 3 - Little crawler

As promised several days ago, here's a photo of Augie's earliest attempts to crawl. Actually, he was also fussing and screaming a bit (someone fought his morning nap today), so maybe this is just what it looks like when he throws a fit:

5 months, day 2

(Nota bene: I didn't like the whole day-counting thing for the title of each post, so I'm going with age now).

I forgot to mention that Augie turned 5 months yesterday. Not that we celebrated or anything - I didn't even remember to get out the blocks and spell out "5 months" like I did for 4 months or 3 months. But still, we're coming on half a year, and that's kinda exciting.

So who is this dude at 5 months? He has two front teeth (and I have two teeth marks on my nipple as of this evening); he can almost sit unassisted; he can wiggle 360 degrees on his tummy; he's trying to crawl; he regularly rolls from back to front and has once gone from front to back; he loves to babble; he is interested in adult food (though he can't have it yet); he loves to laugh and giggle. His eyes are blue with some brown around the center; his hair has lightened to a light brown/reddish shade but is falling out; he's 17 lbs 9 oz and measures 27 inches.

Tomorrow we fly to Michigan to spend a week with the Elliotts (and Eldreds and Ramsdells and Tetzlaffs and Stratton) - don't expect anything tomorrow, but we'll be back online on Wednesday with a refreshing change of scenery. And, I hope, some new characters to introduce.

(By the way, for you grammarians, I know that I am supposed to spell out numerals - it should read "five months", not "5 months". But it's easier to read the numerals rather than the words in a paragraph, so I made the editorial decision to be wrong. Had anyone even noticed?).

Day 149 - More sleeps

I had so much fun doing the sleeper series, I thought I'd do it again.

Day 148 - Watson 3

Uncle Robert came to visit for a day before James and he run off into the Costa Rican sunset together. Mama and baby are headed to Kalamazoo on Tuesday, a place that James, in an effort to alleviate his guilty conscience for taking a tropical vacation while leaving me as sole diaper-changer, lullaby-singer, milk-feeder, nap-putter-downer, playmate, and chauffeur, called "the Costa Rica of the Midwest." If you followed that sentence, congratulations.

To the point: I can't imagine a more handsome trio of gentlemen.

Day 147 - Doctor's office

We went in for Augie's 5-month appointment today - a super-quick checkup and then some vaccinations. Little guy felt the first shot but didn't make a sound; he felt the second one though, cried really loud for about five seconds, and then started giggling. However, later in the afternoon when I dropped a book on his face, he did cry for a while. Sadly, I'm not joking.

Dava is the winner of the weight-guessing contest! Dava was also the only entrant, so that's not much of a surprise. She guessed 17 lbs, 4 oz -- Augie is 17 lbs, 9 oz and 27 inches long. Dava, send me your address and I'll send you a picture of a cat doing yoga.

Oh - we think he rolled front-to-back for the first time this morning! Though I'm mightily embarrassed to say that although James and I were both in the room, we both missed it - we were buried in our morning emails. Which is a stupid excuse to miss something so cool. We had just looked at him playing on his tummy, and next time I saw him (30 seconds later) he was on his back. So I suppose that means he had to have rolled front-to-back, but because neither of us saw it, we're still in disbelief. Which is also kinda stupid.

But here's what you came here to see. Augie's sitting is getting better every day. He still totters, but with Baba's help he can stay up for a while:

By the way, Paul, we have no idea what the solution to your anagram is. Can we get another clue?

Day 146 - Munchies

I've had a few folks email me to say that they tried to leave a comment but got an error message; I've tried to make it as easy as possible to leave comments without having to sign up or sign in, but Blogger certainly isn't helping. So for anyone who wants to leave a comment, when where it asks "comment as" and gives you a drop-down menu, choose "anonymous" - and then, if you would, just sign your name at the end of your comment. Sorry it's been so difficult.

Tomorrow morning we have a brief 5-month check-up with the pediatrician and get a couple vaccinations. At 4 months Augie was 16 lbs and 6 oz - any guesses for how big he is at 5 months?

Day 145 - Squeeze me

Day 144 - Mama and baby

Day 143 - Reading? Eating!

This is what passes for reading in our house. Oh, and by the way, looks like his lower right incisor is on its way out, too!

Day 142 - Sunday in the park

Since I told you about Augie trying to crawl, he hasn't done it. However, he did have another development in the last 24 hours - his first tooth! His bottom left incisor. It's just barely through the gums - hard to see, but easy to feel when he bites down on our fingers. We can't get him to hold still long enough with his mouth open to get a photo, but I imagine it will make an appearance here soon enough.

It was a gorgeous day in New Jersey, and we enjoyed the afternoon in a park along the D&R Canal. Here's the scene:

Augie seemed to love being outdoors - see his joy in this very short clip (email subscribers click here to see the video):

He's still working on sitting, and he's getting stronger every day. He can stay upright for a second or two before toppling:

Day 141 - Driver

Sorry I didn't post yesterday; I kept waiting for Augie to do his crawling thing, but of course he didn't. We'll try again tomorrow. Here's a photo from a few weeks ago that I forgot to post then. Guess he doesn't like his mama's driving.

Day 139 - Precocious little chap

No pictures today. Sorry.

So it turns out that Augie is trying to crawl. Already. At 4.5 months. It's kinda cute, kinda funny, and utterly frightening. When he turns himself onto his tummy and his toy is just out of reach, he digs his feet into the ground and his booty goes right up in the air. He pushes and pushes, but since he can't lift his chest up he doesn't get anywhere. But you should see that little butt sticking up, and those legs working so hard.

I'll try to get a picture tomorrow, but he won't do it on command. In fact, every time I get the camera out to catch something - a particularly cheeky smile, some babbling, his foot in his mouth - he gets distracted by the camera and stops doing whatever I was trying to record.

Day 138 - Sleeper

Pictures of Augie sleeping, all taken in the last two weeks.

Day 137 - Faces

More from last weekend.

Day 136 - Weekend shenanigans

Baba and Augie like to play around at the weekends:

Day 135 - Precious moments

This is what happens when I try to have a precious moment with my son.

I lean in close:

Augie gets excited:

I take an elbow to the face:


















Just after these photos were taken, I remarked to James what a special, beautiful son we had, and how lucky to have such moments together. Augie turned his head and looked me in the eye, opened his mouth, and spit up.

Day 134 - Find the baby

Can you find the baby?

A little distraction while you're searching: 

Here's a hint:

Day 133 - Another turn

I didn't even realize that I forgot to post yesterday until I woke up this morning. The lack of sleep and the siphoning of nutrients into breast milk have made me forgetful, inarticulate, and loopy. James would probably add rash, irascible, and cantankerous to that list, but since it's my list he can't.

Either way, Augie has finally mastered turning from back to tummy via his right side, not just his left (and in cloth diapers, which he'd never done before): hurrah! So maybe he'll quit doing acrobatics at night? Two nights ago I woke up to find he had rotated 180 degrees from where I put him down after his last feed. Watch out world, this kid is on the move!

Day 131 - Augie up close

Sorry for missing yesterday, folks. I was tired. Still am, in fact, but I'm bursting at the seams (that was for you, Kat!) to share some fantastic photos with you. I feel like I'm giving you a whole week of photos at once, so I hope you have a week's worth of enjoyment with today's post.