At 5 months old, Joshua is sooo much fun! He absolutely loves it when people look him right in the eyes and talk to him. When they do, he gives a huge open-mouth grin and his arms and legs all go flying and kicking at once in a big happy dance. In quieter moments he'll coo back at you, but when he's totally excited it's all he can do to dance and squeal a bit!
So indicative of his age, he's totally fascinated by his feet and toes. He gets them into his mouth every chance he can get like they are the most AMAZING things ever.
The moment we get him on the changing table... toes up in his hands, then in his mouth!
Sometimes you gotta use two hands to keep those toes up there!
Though he's been rolling occasionally for a while, he's now much more purposeful in pursuing the things or toys that interest him, and he'll take a roll or two to inch over to something that's caught his attention. He'll sit with our help, or "tripod" for a few minutes, but definitely isn't sitting independently yet. A growing interest in playing with the things or toys around him and a slight increase in mobility have meant he's a tad happier playing on a blanket by himself for a few minutes at a time, occasionally letting me unload the dishwasher or do some picking-up while he's entertained. Of course, his brother and sister are always eager to entertain him as well... though that can lead to its own challenges.
One of the cutest, funniest sibling moments so far was the other evening. David and I were wrapping up dinner talking at the table when I realized Abby was playing with Josh after being excused. She had him scootched off the blanket onto the bamboo wood floors, on his tummy, and had both of his hands in hers. She was slowly backing up, pulling him towards her on his tummy, saying, "Good crawling, Joshua! Good job! You're learning to crawl, Joshua! Just move your legs, Joshua!" The poor girl ran away embarrassed when we noticed the crawling lessons being conducted and began laughing, and we had to apologize gently. Joshua, despite being pulled along the floor on his tummy, actually seemed quite amused himself! Jonathan also continues to be a sweet, encouraging big brother. He enthusiastically celebrates each milestone that he notices Joshua achieve. Listening to him in the car tonight exclaim ,"Mommy, Joshua put in his own binky! He can do it by himself, Mommy! Joshua's learning to put in his binky!" clapping and jumping in his seat, I couldn't help think of what a wonderfully encouraging friend, spouse, and father he'll be.
Our third child continues to be quite attached to his Mommy, at least in the evenings when tired, and we've had a few babysitter false-starts where we ended up returning to take him with us. He's been to two weddings already, and did great at both. He's still wonderfully cuddly, and he loves a good tickle and laugh. Much like his brother, he'll often join in when others around him are laughing, even if he was just sitting on my hip quietly when the laughter broke out.
Sleep is still a challenge. By still, I mean the poor little one is crying in his crib at this moment, though I've been back into his room at least 20 times in the past 2 hours. He's been swaddled until now, but rolling over so much I'm concerned that he'll roll over and be stuck on his tummy without his arms for support (which he's done a time or two after waking from a nap). So I'm trying to let him sleep unswaddled, and to help him fall asleep in his crib... it's not going too smoothly, and in a few minutes I think I'm going to give up and lay down with him.
The rest of family life is going quite well, too. I've been a bit preoccupied with Jonathan's learning and school plans recently. He began really reading a few weeks ago. It just suddenly "clicked!" He went from sounding out words slowly to spouting off, "That restaurant says they have Breakfast, Lunch, and Dinner, Mommy!" "Why does the Goldfish bag say, 'cheddar?' Are they made with 'cheddar cheese?'" "The 'bank' sign on that building is burned out. They need new light bulbs."... and a slew of other words around. With some encouragement he can read most of the words in simple books like Go, Dog, Go, or Level 1 readers, and every time we read he amazes me with the words I had no idea he could read! This has me second-guessing myself, as mothers do, about my plans for his start-date for kindergarten, a year from now, but at the moment I intend to proceed with 4 year old preK this year and to continue supporting his learning at home. The years ahead may mean public school, homeschooling, or a university model private school -- I'm all over the place, depending on the day. It's a good season to remember that we really need to make the best decision for today and see what tomorrow holds. And for today, we're having a great time together!
It's been great fun seeing Jonathan and Abby learn. She eagerly joins in for almost any activity, so when I brought out fake money one day, gave the kids an allotted amount, and charged them for everything they ate and played with to introduce them to the cash denominations and the coins, she went right along, counting out her nickles and dimes to use the potty! (Yep... I made them pay $0.20 to potty!)
While age 2 has its definite challenges, and Abby's independent spirit is sensitive to the frustrations of age 2, it also has its delights. Abby is learning to do so much by herself. The past two days she has patiently refused help putting on her one-piece zip-up PJ's and laid it out, carefully unzipped it, oriented her body in line with the PJ outfit and attentively slid everything into the right hole, then battled the zipper, then jumped up exclaiming, "I did it!" I gave her quite the celebration :) She's also been attentively listening in to writing and reading lessons with Jonathan, and has been carefully constructing letters A and M on her papers when drawing. She knows what she wants to draw and is often frustrated that her hand can't achieve what she's going for, but she definitely has the idea!
Well, numerous returns for binky support, music and a mobile, hugs, pats, etc... and Joshua continues to lay frustrated in his bed. I'm off to again console the little guy and possibly sleep beside him in our room. Best wishes to us all for a somewhat restful night!
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