5 Months Old!

 Dear Scarlett,

You turned 5 months old on Wednesday!  We can hardly believe you're just one month shy of being half a year old!  Look how much you've grown:

You are still in 0-3 month clothes and size 1 diapers. Even though you are a tiny peanut, you have more than doubled your size since you were born!

Speaking of your size, we spent 2 days in the hospital with you at the beginning of this month.  Your pediatrician was so worried that you only weighed 10 pounds at your 4-month well check!  She wanted the doctors to monitor you at the hospital and do some blood work, just to make sure everything was fine.  After 2 very long days, we found out that you are totally healthy and normal!  Which we knew all along.  Better safe than sorry, I guess.  And you seemed to really enjoy the 2 straight days of constant attention from both Mommy and Daddy!

Last month you were going through a fussy stage, but this month you went through a happy, smiley stage! As soon as one of us (Mommy or Daddy) walks into the room, you smile immediately when you see us.  And if you wake up you usually don't cry.  Instead, you just break out in the biggest grin as soon as you see one of us, or any of your other favorite people.  And when Mommy is feeding you, sometimes you'll just stop, look up, give me a giant smile, and then go right back to eating. Your smile is my favorite thing in the world!  The only thing that might be better is your laugh!

When you get laughing, you almost can't contain yourself.  You just start chuckling and gasping and you close your eyes and open  your mouth so wide!  It's adorable.

Speaking of gasps, you make the funniest sounds!  When you get hyper, you do these long, high pitched gasps. The best thing we can compare them to are velociraptor sounds from Jurassic Park.  Then you will just coo and squeal in the highest pitch possible.  

Lately you have been a lot more into toys.  You love your activity mat and bouncy seat, because you love to grab at the little hanging toys.  You also love little stuffed animals (mostly because you love to put them in your mouth!).  You like rattles and anything that makes fun noises.  You also seem really interested in people's clothing and jewelry these days.  You love long, dangly necklaces, pretty scarves, anything with a collar, and especially Mommy and Aunt Di's long hair! 

You've recently started to really splash around and play during bath time too.  You have a tiny boat that squirts water, and you love it when mommy sprays you with it.  You love to try to catch the water as it squirts out.  

Your interest in books continues to grow.  You have one lift-a-flap book that seems to be your current favorite.  You love to look at the pictures.  You haven't quite figured out the difference between 2-dimensional and 3-dimensional things, and you'll try to elusively pull the objects right off of the page.  It keeps you busy for awhile, at least!

You are still constantly learning new things.  You seem to be noticing much more about your environment.  Notably, the cats.  Ellie seems to be your favorite, but that might just be because Gabby doesn't come within 10 feet of you most of the time.  Ellie seems to be similarly curious about you, so you often have very long staring contests.  You seem really interested in her whiskers and tail, but Mommy and Daddy won't let you get close enough to grab them, much to your dismay. 

You are also rolling from your stomach to your back more often.  Still not totally consistently, though.  And you are so, so close to rolling from your back to your stomach!  You get almost the whole way over, and then your darn arm just gets in the way!  Mommy and Daddy think you're strong enough to do it, but just can't quite figure out the logistics yet.  Ha!

You're also getting closer and closer to being able to sit on your own.  You can sit up of you just have a little support on your lower back and torso.  I think in another month or two, you'll be doing it!  

You're finally able to find your thumb to suck on it instead of shoving your whole hand in your mouth when you are getting sleepy.  It's kind of nice, because a thumb can't get lost like a pacifier!

This was a big month!  You spent a lot of time with your grandparents and aunts, you celebrated your first Thanksgiving, and even "helped" shop for your first Christmas tree!  Christmas is going to be so much fun this year!  We are so excited for what the next month has in store!

Here is what you looked like this month: 

We love you so much!

Love,

Mommy and Daddy