Five Months

Wow.

I remember being amazed that I had a baby who was a whole three days old.

Five months is loads!!

Slowly but surely, Asher's little personality has been developing. He is a cheerful charmer - apart from when things aren't going his way, of course, when he quickly gets upset. Otherwise he is usually smiling, or shrieking with delight, or happily babbling (starting to hear some b and v sounds from him these days!)

Ash seems pretty sociable - he smiles at anyone and everyone - but of course his biggest smiles are reserved for people he knows well. He's just starting to giggle, although it's quite a challenge to get one out of him. I try and get at least one a day. My most successful giggle-inducing tactics are to kiss his neck, to kiss his armpits and to sing the little green frog song. (Tickling still has no effect).

Mid-shriek

Reading to Asher has become more challenging as his reach has increased alongside his improving ability to grab things and stuff them in his mouth. However we persevere. He usually listens quietly (and with a big smile) to Go Baby Go (which we seem to have on permanent loan from the library, but I'm thinking of buying a copy, he likes it so much). I'm not sure if that's the familiarity, or the rhyme and rhythm, or the fact that the words are printed in bold type on bright colours, usually on the page facing the pictures, and he likes to look at them. We are expanding his little library though, and he also usually enjoys the delightful Pants, by Giles Andreae and Nick Sharratt.

"Oh look... I can undo this!"

Oh yes. Nappies are for chewing on, apparently. Our little nudist still prefers to be without his - and today he made a discovery which might benefit him in this regard!

We've altered the sleeping arrangements slightly. Asher's cot (with the side removed) is now lashed to the side of our bed and it's made things a lot easier for me. He still wakes up 4-5 times in the night and this way I don't have to get out of bed to feed him. Sometimes he stays asleep when I move him back over too, but not always. After a few weeks of really difficult nights during which I could feel myself going crazy, we decided to try the dummy again. You have to persevere to get Asher to take it, but if he's tired enough it does allow him to go to sleep without being held. The excellent effect of this has been to allow him to self-settle between sleep cycles (even without the dummy) - i.e. I don't have to rock him back to sleep every 30 minutes. Hooray!

Oh yeah... he can sit up. He's still only rolled over a handful of times, but I think he would like to do it again so I expect he'll be off across the living room floor before long. He really likes going outside and is starting to show an interest in Marmite (The cat. Not the yeast extract). Ash really cheers me up with the huge smile he gives me every time he sees me. Today I held him up to a mirror and it was really cute: he kept grinning at my reflection, then turning round to look at the real me with a slightly confused expression. I'm so excited about all the experiences there are for him to enjoy.

By the way, a five month old is more aware of things than you might expect. And also has a longer reach and a firmer grip than you might desire! Asher has worked out that my phone must be a very interesting object and is determined to get it into his mouth. He loves to look at the computer, and sometimes stops to listen if he hears typing! Hair is a tasty and tantalising morsel (mine, Noah's, Noah's beard, even Noah's leg hair!) - I carried him in the backpack the other day without tying it up and let me tell you, that was a mistake!

"What is that thing Mum keeps pointing at my face? I think I can grab it..."

I have a feeling that being a parent is about to become even harder work!