Well, Caleb turned 5 months old yesterday. Where has the time gone?! I figure that since I have not done an update on him in a while (on his 4 monthabirthday it was Christmas so an update never occurred), it's about time to catch you guys up on his development.

Stats: Caleb is 27.25 inches long. I can't tell you how much he weighs. Sorry. At our clinic they only weigh babies once a month (and they never weigh them during actual appointments). I missed November, they cancelled December, and I couldn't go this week because of the workers. I am thinking about looking into other clinics but in the meantime...he weighs more than he used to. :) He's still relatively skinny, but the chicken legs are gone and he has quite the thunder thighs now.


Eating: Caleb's diet continues to consist mainly of breastmillk. He's only had formula a handful of times for the purpose of preparing him for our night out. In addition to milk, he now eats solid foods a couple times a day. At first it appeared that he was going to be a picky eater, particularly when it came to vegetables. There's not a large variety of baby foods in the stores here, so I have been pureeing fruits and vegetables at home myself. (Maybe Jeff and Andrea have rubbed off on me more than I thought!) This is proven to be very easy and I am able to try Caleb on individual fruits and vegetables instead of simply mixes of things, so that I know what he really likes.

There are some things that Caleb eats very aggressively and we can never give him more fast enough. These tend to be his fruits. The vegetables are a different matter and bring about faces of disgust at times. However, Caleb is a quirky little boy and we have learned that if we sing to him while we are feeding him, he just smiles and eats robotically until all his food is gone. If we stop singing, he will start fussing, so mealtimes often turn into song (and sometimes dance) routines, particularly when he is eating vegetables, but in the end everything goes down without a problem.


Development: Caleb can sit for short periods of time on his own, though this is not yet a mastered art. However, he has reached a phase where he would much rather be sitting while he is playing, than laying on the floor. This means I must be constantly at his side for when he crashes to the floor (we don't have carpet so he would hit pretty hard if he fell on his own). I am anxious for sitting to become a fully developed skill.

He rolls with ease in every direction and can turn himself 360 degrees. He has not yet started pushing up and rocking (the step right before crawling) but he can crawl in his own "Caleb" way when he is really motivated. It's not enough to move him around a room, but it's enough to get to a toy (or pacifier) within near distances. He also loves standing...all the time. Caleb can stand on his own while holding onto the couch or a toy and can stand on his own with us holding on to just one hand. He cannot pull himself to a standing position or move along the couch or toy once he is standing, but then again he is only 5 months old so he still has plenty of time to learn that.


Sleep: Caleb sleeps on his own in his crib. He hardly ever cries when he is put down for a nap or for the night. We simply turn on his Fisher Price music machine and he puts his head down and goes to sleep. He continues to be a tummy sleeper and he moves ALL THE TIME in his sleep (I've even seen him doing his version of crawling in his sleep!). He typically sleeps 10-12 hours a night and is doing much better about sleeping constantly now that he can get to the pacifiers at the front of the crib. I am looking into bumper pads now, however, because when he does wake up it is typicaly because he has moved to the side and is slamming his head against the rails. He is typically down to 2 naps a day now (with an occasional 3rd "power nap" thrown in there depending on what's going on). He can now stay awake up to 3 hours at a time!!! (This is a fairly new development because until recently he would only stay awake for 1.5 hours at a time and simply slept all the time.)

When he wakes up from naps and in the morning, Caleb just plays and starts talking (at times I hear him doing this in the middle of the night as well, but then he simply goes back to sleep on his own). If I ignore him for about 10 minutes, he will ofthen then begin making louder noises, but for the most part he wakes up very happily. He then always greets me with a giant smile and often a kiss when I pick him up.


Other: Caleb loves to play with his toys. He gets bored easily, however, and prefers to leave the house once a day, even if only briefly, just for a change of pace. He typically will play for the longest periods of time in his exersaucer/activity centre. His current interest is playing with balls. This means more work for me since they inevitably roll across the room and he is unable to chase after them.

He is now into EVERYTHING he can get his hands onto. He broke Scott's coffeepot yesterday by throwing it on the floor and when I looked at him, he just gave me a big grin and started to grab the rest of the machine. Everything must be kept out of arms way if we don't want him to have it.

Caleb continues to love taking baths and now plays regularly with a little rubber ducky from Jeff, Andrea, and Mia. We will probably introduce more bath toys soon because he is such a fan of it. He never fusses when he is being bathed or having his hair washed.

Caleb continues to be a very happy little boy. He really only fusses if he feels he is not getting enough attention, and as long as we respond to him this rarely turns into full blown crying. He will also fuss if he gets really hungry or really tired, but he's typically pretty patient about eating and will just go to sleep if he's that tired. He has been sick on a couple of occasions now and his happiness continued right through both illnesses. You never would have known that he was ill from his demeanor.

He is very smart and picks up on things quickly. He has learned to raise his arms in the air if he wants to be picked up instead of crying. He is currently learning to click his tongue (he has the motion down but no noise has come out yet). It makes for really cute faces, though.

Caleb is truly a joy to be with every day. I can't believe that I only have two more months before I must return to work and miss out on his cuteness all day long.

Labels: Caleb, Milestones