Cai Alexander: Five Months

New Things: Cai is doing SO MANY new things. It seems he learns something new every day. He can:

• Roll over from back to belly (he has also gone from belly to back but only two or three times.
• Reach for and grab almost any object.
• Reach out to touch the dog.
• Blow raspberries. 
• Stand up with very little support.
• Laugh, squeal, grunt as a complaint, 
• Creep...sort of...he does this inch worm thing, pushing his butt up in the air and scooting forward.
• Grab the fingers of anyone holding him and shoving them in his mouth.
• Pull his pacifier out of his mouth and stick it back in (about 7 times out of 10)
• Chew on his toes.

Growth: Cai now weighs 15 lbs. 5 oz., keeping him right around the 45-50th percentile where he has been. He is now 26.5 inches long (2.5 inches of growth), jumping him from the 50th percentile to the 75th. Not that percentile really matters, it's just kind of cool. The ladies at the doctor's office were surprised at how big he had gotten since his three month well baby visit.

Sleep: Cai naps beautifully, most of the time. As long as we stick to our routine, Cai usually falls asleep very quickly. Our only problem with naps lately is that when he wakes up, even only half way, he immediately rolls over then gets upset because he's stuck on his belly. This week he started to be able to fall back to sleep on his belly or back, but usually one of us has to flip him back over and give him his pacifier. Usually he'll go back to sleep, but not always. We still swaddle him with one arm out, but we are slowly trying to phase out the swaddle. It's slow going; I had stopped swaddling both arms for a week or so and he went from sleep an hour and a half at a time to thirty to forty five minutes. It took me awhile to make the connection, but once I started swaddling on arm again, his naps got longer; he even took a two and a half hour nap this week.

Nighttime sleeping has changed quite a bit. He wakes fairly often, but usually just needs someone to put his pacifier in, and he goes right back to sleep. This week he has consistently been waking to nurse between 4:30 and 5:30. I'm not really loving having to wake up at that time, but he also has been sleeping half an hour later. I think the change is a combination of teething and the "four month sleep regression". 

Breastfeeding: For the most part I feel like we have this whole breastfeeding thing down pat now. We seem to be past any issues of oversupply, engorgement, dairy intolerance, and latch issues. Our only issue right now is this weird thing he does during his last feeding before bedtime. Not every night, but many nights, he seems hungry then starts crying after a few minutes of nursing. I can't pin down a reason for it. First I thought tummy issues, but that doesn't seem to fit. Then I thought maybe my supply is just low at night, but I seem to still be pretty full, although it could just not be coming out fast enough? Sometimes it seems to be due to teething; if we give him some Hylands Teething Tablets, he calms down and eats. Other times he just needs to stop an do something else, like have his diaper change, and then he eats without a problem. And still other times, he just refuses to eat altogether, and we put him to bed.

Overall, he nurses between five and seven times a day. The days he eats more often are usually days when he cluster feeds because he gets distracted and doesn't finish a normal feeding.

Likes: In addition to learning new things, Cai enjoys doing new things. His favorite things right now are:

Singing "Jesse's Girl" with Daddy

• Playing in his activity center. He likes to try to chew on everything and gets made when he can't get all of the toys in his mouth. He has really started to bounce in it. A lot.

• Watching Finn. Finn is the funniest thing in our house right now. Everything he does is hilarious. At least to Cai.

• Singing. Cai likes it when Mama or Daddy sing with him or to him, particularly songs like "The Itsy Bitsy Spider" and "Head and Shoulders, Knees, and Toes," but this week he also really loved it when I loudly sang "Good Morning" from Singing in the Rain.

• Chewing on everything. Sometimes frantically. He has at least one bottom tooth getting ready to pop through. And the drool. It's ridiculous. This kid is constantly soaked.

Greg (Aunt Katie named him)

• Stuffed animals. Cai really seems to enjoy plush. He sleeps with either Greg, a little Garanimals brand "lovey," or a stuffed puppy he has. He likes to snuggle them, play with them, and mostly chew on them.

• The Wind Up. Cai apparently likes anticipation. He likes to be thrown in the air, but more than that he likes if you count to three and lift him just a little on each number before  you throw him. He also likes to be tickled, but mostly he likes when you start by wiggling your fingers in the air high above him and making them creep toward him.

Reaching for Mama's p

• Sticking out his tongue.

• Reaching for Mama or Daddy's phones, which he is not allowed to have.

• Watching TV. Ugh. We do not want him to watch TV, but this kid is attracted to it. I am one who enjoys having the TV on as background noise when I am doing things around the house, but I have to be careful now.