Yesterday, Matt turned 5-months old! He's growing so much and it's fun to watch him learn how to do new things.
Some of the things he likes to do:
* Make spit sounds. You know, where you stick your tongue out and and blow. He does it all the time! This morning, that's how I knew he was awake, I heard him doing it through the monitor. It's pretty dang cute, if a little wet.
* Touch his toes. He tries to eat them but can only sometimes manage to get them in his mouth. He does this all the time, too. I'll hear him in the middle of the night, making spitting sounds and grunting as he lifts his feet towards his mouth.
* Roll on his side. He doesn't do this as much as the other two, but it's picking up in frequency. He hasn't figured out how to roll all the way over yet, but he's close. Mostly, he rolls from him back to his side and almost on to his stomach, but the only times he's actually rolled over has been from his stomach onto his back and was totally on accident. He'll get there eventually but I don't feel a need to rush him.
* Lift his chest. This is something he's started doing really recently. When he's on his tummy, he gets up on his hands and lifts his chest really high. Yay! It's pretty cute.
* He's also starting to kind of get up on his knees for a half-second. He's soooo close to scooching! Steve puts his hand behind Matt's feet so when Matt pushes, he moves forward a little bit. Steve read that it's suppose to help kids realize they can move forward.
* Matt doesn't scooch yet, but he still manages to move. I'll put him on a blanket or his toy mat facing one direction and he ends up facing a totally different direction; both on his tummy and on his back, though more often on his tummy.
* Tummy time. I admit that I wasn't good at doing tummy time with him at first. At 2 months, I started being better and it's slowly become easier for him. Now, he can spend up to 10 or 15 minutes on his tummy before he gets tired of it. I can tell it's really helping his development, too.
* Sitting. Again, he doesn't do it a lot, but it's becoming more frequent that he can sit up on his own, without support. He topples over after a bit, but he can stay up longer and longer each time.
* Standing with help. This is one of my favorites because he looks so darn proud of himself when one of us helps him stand up. He looks around with the hugest grin like, "Look at me, everyone, I'm standing! I'm so big!" Soooo adorable! I don't have a picture of it yet but totally need to get one!
* Eating. The boy loves to eat...from his bottle. He's still not loving eating rice cereal so we don't push it. I offer it to him once a day and give him as much as he'll accept, which tends to be about a teaspoon or so. We tried other flavors awhile ago but he wouldn't even open his mouth again after spitting out the first spoonful. He still has a bit of the tongue thrust, so I don't feel a huge need for him to eat solids yet, so if he eats some, fine; if not, fine too.
* Baths. He's slowly beginning to realize baths can be fun. We could tell from the start that Matt didn't love getting bathed, but he was always very patient during the process - never screamed or cried, just put up with it. Steve bought him a yellow rubber ducky and lately, Matt has been playing with it in the tub a bit. Even starting to splash water a bit. Oh goodie! :)
Matt is a super good kid. He is like me in that he gets grumpy if he's too tired or hungry, but otherwise he's very good-natured. He smiles all the time; he's got a huge grin that makes everyone around him smile as well. He is also like me in that he seems to do better if on a consistent schedule. I swear I didn't set out to put him on a schedule, but it's kind of second nature to me and it sort of just happened. It works for us, though. There are times when we have to get off schedule, and it's not pretty, but we easily get back on schedule the next day.
Matt sleeps fairly well at night. We've had him sleeping in his crib since December and it's been really great. He still wakes up a couple times at night, which is common. Sometimes he needs to be comforted back to sleep and sometimes he puts himself back to sleep. I've learned that I'm not the cry-it-out sort of mom, although there's nothing wrong with that...it's just not me. I'm pretty sure that he won't need me to help him get back to sleep eventually, and until that time, I'm trying to enjoy the special moments at night where I get to be with him.
I'm working on getting him to sleep in his crib at naps. Like I said, he's a lot happier if he stays on a sleeping and eating schedule consistently, so it's been hard to figure out how to keep the schedule while teaching him to nap on his own. He used to sleep in his swing or bouncy seat, but for the past couple months, he'd only nap if I was holding him. I admit it, I loved cuddling with him while he slept and it gave me a chance to rest as well. I realized lately, though, that I could really use that time while he's asleep to do other things...like homework, make dinner, clean the house, blog, etc. So, we're working on transitioning. It's not perfect yet, but we're getting there.
I haven't weighed Matt recently, but at 4 months he weighed 19lbs 2oz and was 26.5 inches tall. His height is in the 99th percentile and his weight is in the 94th. He's a big boy, but the doctor said it's okay because he's proportionate and not overweight...just big. He comes from it naturally; Steve is 6'4" and a big guy and I'm not petite.
Well, enough writing. There's stuff I'm undoubtedly forgetting to say, but oh well. Here are some pictures of my super-cute boy.
Some of the things he likes to do:
* Make spit sounds. You know, where you stick your tongue out and and blow. He does it all the time! This morning, that's how I knew he was awake, I heard him doing it through the monitor. It's pretty dang cute, if a little wet.
* Touch his toes. He tries to eat them but can only sometimes manage to get them in his mouth. He does this all the time, too. I'll hear him in the middle of the night, making spitting sounds and grunting as he lifts his feet towards his mouth.
* Roll on his side. He doesn't do this as much as the other two, but it's picking up in frequency. He hasn't figured out how to roll all the way over yet, but he's close. Mostly, he rolls from him back to his side and almost on to his stomach, but the only times he's actually rolled over has been from his stomach onto his back and was totally on accident. He'll get there eventually but I don't feel a need to rush him.
* Lift his chest. This is something he's started doing really recently. When he's on his tummy, he gets up on his hands and lifts his chest really high. Yay! It's pretty cute.
* He's also starting to kind of get up on his knees for a half-second. He's soooo close to scooching! Steve puts his hand behind Matt's feet so when Matt pushes, he moves forward a little bit. Steve read that it's suppose to help kids realize they can move forward.
* Matt doesn't scooch yet, but he still manages to move. I'll put him on a blanket or his toy mat facing one direction and he ends up facing a totally different direction; both on his tummy and on his back, though more often on his tummy.
* Tummy time. I admit that I wasn't good at doing tummy time with him at first. At 2 months, I started being better and it's slowly become easier for him. Now, he can spend up to 10 or 15 minutes on his tummy before he gets tired of it. I can tell it's really helping his development, too.
* Sitting. Again, he doesn't do it a lot, but it's becoming more frequent that he can sit up on his own, without support. He topples over after a bit, but he can stay up longer and longer each time.
* Standing with help. This is one of my favorites because he looks so darn proud of himself when one of us helps him stand up. He looks around with the hugest grin like, "Look at me, everyone, I'm standing! I'm so big!" Soooo adorable! I don't have a picture of it yet but totally need to get one!
* Eating. The boy loves to eat...from his bottle. He's still not loving eating rice cereal so we don't push it. I offer it to him once a day and give him as much as he'll accept, which tends to be about a teaspoon or so. We tried other flavors awhile ago but he wouldn't even open his mouth again after spitting out the first spoonful. He still has a bit of the tongue thrust, so I don't feel a huge need for him to eat solids yet, so if he eats some, fine; if not, fine too.
* Baths. He's slowly beginning to realize baths can be fun. We could tell from the start that Matt didn't love getting bathed, but he was always very patient during the process - never screamed or cried, just put up with it. Steve bought him a yellow rubber ducky and lately, Matt has been playing with it in the tub a bit. Even starting to splash water a bit. Oh goodie! :)
Matt is a super good kid. He is like me in that he gets grumpy if he's too tired or hungry, but otherwise he's very good-natured. He smiles all the time; he's got a huge grin that makes everyone around him smile as well. He is also like me in that he seems to do better if on a consistent schedule. I swear I didn't set out to put him on a schedule, but it's kind of second nature to me and it sort of just happened. It works for us, though. There are times when we have to get off schedule, and it's not pretty, but we easily get back on schedule the next day.
Matt sleeps fairly well at night. We've had him sleeping in his crib since December and it's been really great. He still wakes up a couple times at night, which is common. Sometimes he needs to be comforted back to sleep and sometimes he puts himself back to sleep. I've learned that I'm not the cry-it-out sort of mom, although there's nothing wrong with that...it's just not me. I'm pretty sure that he won't need me to help him get back to sleep eventually, and until that time, I'm trying to enjoy the special moments at night where I get to be with him.
I'm working on getting him to sleep in his crib at naps. Like I said, he's a lot happier if he stays on a sleeping and eating schedule consistently, so it's been hard to figure out how to keep the schedule while teaching him to nap on his own. He used to sleep in his swing or bouncy seat, but for the past couple months, he'd only nap if I was holding him. I admit it, I loved cuddling with him while he slept and it gave me a chance to rest as well. I realized lately, though, that I could really use that time while he's asleep to do other things...like homework, make dinner, clean the house, blog, etc. So, we're working on transitioning. It's not perfect yet, but we're getting there.
I haven't weighed Matt recently, but at 4 months he weighed 19lbs 2oz and was 26.5 inches tall. His height is in the 99th percentile and his weight is in the 94th. He's a big boy, but the doctor said it's okay because he's proportionate and not overweight...just big. He comes from it naturally; Steve is 6'4" and a big guy and I'm not petite.
Well, enough writing. There's stuff I'm undoubtedly forgetting to say, but oh well. Here are some pictures of my super-cute boy.