Five Months Old!

It is hard to believe, but each month with Carter just gets better and better. He is such a good baby-we are so lucky!! He nurses well, and usually only takes 20 minutes or less total. He is still sleeping sporadically-waking up between 1 and 4 times per night. I never feed him before 5am, and before that if he wakes up crying he is easily soothed with a pacifier and "shushing". Jay has been really helpful during the middle of the night wakenings which I am really thankful for!

He still flips to his belly in the left direction all the time, and he has gotten pretty fast at it. He still has no interest in rolling to the right or rolling back to his back from his belly. He has learned to sleep on his belly and seems to enjoy it, which makes me nervous but there is no stopping him. No matter how many times I flip him over to his back during the night, he flips right back to his belly. I called the pediatrician's office and they told me that as long as he is strong enough to hold his head up and we don't have any other SIDS risks in the house (smoking, soft mattress, stuffed animals/blankets in crib) then it is okay to let him sleep on his belly. They said as a general rule, if they are strong enough to flip to their belly, they are strong enough to flip back or turn their head if they can't breathe.

Since we've been working on Carter's torticollis, it has gotten so much better that by the time we went to his 4 month checkup, it was almost gone and the NP couldn't even tell he had it. He is still growing as much as ever and is now wearing 9-12 month clothing!

The best new things Carter has learned to do are laughing and squealing. Before, his laugh was more of a grunt, but now he actually chuckles and giggles, which absolutely melts our hearts. He doesn't do it often, but we can usually get him to laugh by tickling under his chin or his chest or by bouncing whatever soft surface he is laying on like an earthquake. His squealing is hilarious-it is like he all of a sudden found his voice and now wants to use it all the time. He is a busy little boy, constantly kicking his legs no matter what position he's in. We got him a jumparoo so he could get out his energy plus strengthen his legs and keep him in an upright position, and he loves it! We have some great videos of him enjoying himself in the jumparoo.