Five months!

 A few days ago Paisley turned 5 months old!

She loves:

-       Grabbing at stuff.  Everything.  Especially my hair.

-       Putting things in her mouth.

-       Mirrors.

-       Standing.  (With help.)

-       To be held. 

-       Rolling.  She rolls from her back to her tummy anytime I put her down on her back, including when I change her diapers.

-       Books.  This past month we mostly read: My First Thanksgiving and The First Thanksgiving, When Snowflakes Fall, Winter, and Goodnight Moon (we read that one every night as part of our bedtime routine).

Paisley has started to think more things are funny—a while ago she thought it was funny when I used the lint roller on her; a few days ago she laughed and laughed as I popped packing bubbles.  Sometimes she laughs if we toss her up (we don’t let go).

Swimming is going really well.  We go every Wednesday.  The past couple weeks have been the best so far.  Two weeks ago Paisley got the hang of going underwater.  Previously she really didn’t like it; she didn’t cry much or anything, but sometimes it seemed like she might.  A couple weeks ago she realized that you shouldn’t breathe in when you go underwater and now going underwater is no big deal.  So, since class ended early that day, I decided to have us try doing underwater pictures.  We got a couple pretty good ones.  Last week Paisley still was good about going underwater and she also did better with floating.  It’s fun to see progress.

Paisley’s Souns arrived towards the end of this month.  We tried to have them in time for her to start at 5 months.  So, we’ve introduced the letter “o”, which we call “ah” (as in “pot”).  We try to interact with it for at least a couple minutes every day.  “Paisley, do you want to play with your ‘ah’?  Are you putting the ‘ah’ in your mouth?” etc.  I was kind of disappointed to read in the instructions that we’re supposed to work with only the “o” until she is 11-12 months old (or demonstrates that she really understands it).  Babies are supposed to spend longer with the first letter because it creates a foundation for future letters.  (Well, all right.)

We tried a Kindermusik class.  It didn’t go so well.  They were offering it at the same place where we go swimming, and it was supposed to be an introduction class.  We thought we were signing up for a Village class (0-18 months), but it turned out they had more kids that were 18 months to 3 years, so they put them in the time that was supposed to be the baby class and Paisley ended up being the only really little kid.  The class was full of toddlers, and the activities were all toddler activities, except for just a couple things that were for babies.  It was also held at Paisley’s naptime, so she was a Fussy McFusslepot.  The maraca noises made her cry.  The songs made her cry.  It was kind of awkward.  We had signed up for both of the 2 weeks of introductory classes (at the office’s suggestion), and even though the office said the following week would have more babies, we didn’t go.  The real classes start in January and we may go if they have an actual Village class…but I think even if we do Kindermusik we should probably do one of the groups that is closer to home.

Paisley attended her first funeral, for my Aunt Janice.  We spent most of it in the mother’s lounge, because she was fussy.  (It was kind of weird, actually, because if you think about it, crying is not out of place at a funeral.  But infant crying still is.)  The funeral was very nice.

For Halloween, Paisley was a bee.  We didn’t go trick-or-treating, and we didn’t attend any parties.  We did pass out candy to trick-or-treaters, so she was dressed up for that.

Paisley recognizes people better.  She loves her grandma and grandpa (we’re halfway living with them right now), Jeff, and now she likes Liu (her Chinese babysitter).

She is drooling a ton.

We got Paisley a “lovey”—a Sneudel, as recommended in a book that I started reading (about helping babies sleep better).  Paisley does not sleep very well lately, ever since we started living in two places.  Very recently we also stopped swaddling her at night, because we had a couple times where she rolled while in her swaddle and in her swing, and she ended up in really uncomfortable positions.

Also ever since we started living in two places, elimination communication is not going so well.  Partly I am too tired to pay attention to her bathroom needs, and partly she is not communicating with me as well.  We still have a few successes every day, but mainly right now I’m just not trying much. 

Maybe also related to sleeping badly, it seems like every time is Paisley’s naptime.  No matter when things are scheduled, it seems like Paisley is tired and cranky.  This has been true of the Kindermusik class, swim (but we switched times and now that’s better), church, an afternoon house showing, an evening house showing, etc. 

Paisley is rounding out a little.  I don’t know what she weighs, but she has chubbier cheeks, a little bit of a tummy, and chunkier thighs.  I’m happy about that.

That’s our Paisley.  This last month was kind of a fussy one.  It’s looking like that phase has pretty much ended and now she is becoming very social.  She’s a neat little girl.