Cash William turned 5 months on November 29th. I know. I know.. It doesn't seem like he should be 5 months old already! It still feels like we brought him home from NICU yesterday. He's come so far and had proven expectations wrong.
At 5 months, Cash is around 15 pounds. He's still smaller than most Full term 5 month olds, but huge in comparison to most 32 weekers at 5 months. He went from not knowing ow to eat in NICU and wanting to sleep 24/7 to wanting to eat 24/7 and not wanting to sleep! Ha, funny how things change. He does love his sleep, but getting him to sleep is the challenge. Once he's down for the night, he sleeps through the night or wakes once to nurse. Naps are a whole different ballgame. We struggle with naps. This is where baby wearing has been a godsend. It's about the only way I can get him to nap for an extended period of time. We're working on it though!
He still hates tummy time, but he is getting better with it. We've made it a game, playing with him, rolling him around and encouraging him to roll since he's still on strike! He can do it, but he's lazy with rolling. Making it a game, he's starting to roll again. He's went up on his knees a few times, granted out of frustration, he's doing it. He's also discovering his feet and has been pulling them up to his chest, or up in the air. He does this during diaper changes because I always, "get his toes" when I take off his jammies. He loves it. NICU said he would likely hate having his feet touched, but he loves when I kiss his toes and rub his feet. He loves getting his feet rubbed with coconut oil after his bath. It doesn't appear he'll be super ticklish on his feet like his dad, who will donkey kick someone across the room if they touch his feet. 
We're at the stage where he likes to hear himself talk. I love it. We'll hold full conversations, though I haven't the slightest clue what he's saying. Sometimes it sounds like he's trying to say Hello in the mornings. Every morning when we do the first diaper change, right after he wakes, I say hello and good morning. He's been making sounds in what seems to be an attempt to mimic me. There has been many times it seems like he says Momma, and my husband agrees. Is it too early for him to speak a word? Maybe it's just me getting overly excited.
We've been working on sign language since around 3 months. Some days there's too much going on and we... er.. I fail to work with him on it. I was feeling terrible that I wasn't working with him on it as much as I wanted, but obviously I'm doing an ok job at it. Cash is starting to sign, "Milk", and "More". I'm going to make it a goal to work with him first thing in the morning. He's more alert and not fighting sleep. It's a little harder on me because all I want is coffee.. but priorities, right?
We're so close to sitting up and holding balance! He can hold himself up for upwards of 30 seconds at a time, unassisted. If he's reclined, he'll try to sit up, often times he'll fall forward or to the side. I can definitely tell he's determined. He tries to grab onto things and pull himself to sit up. He's been doing great with grabbing my fingers and pulling up. I feel like he's doing everything too fast, but we're letting him take the lead with his milestones and learn at his own pace... even if it's too fast for this momma.
One thing I'm really enjoying is Christmas and all it entails. At least once a day since the day after Thanksgiving, we play and sing Christmas music. He loves it and will grin, giggle and "sing". He is fascinated by the Christmas tree. We'll lay in the floor and he'll wiggle around and stare up at the tree. Nick and I LOVE Christmas and decorating, I'm so excited to share that with Cash... even though he won't remember any of it this year. We also said we wouldn't go overboard with him for Christmas gifts.. and I think we're doing ok with it all. Family has already been spoiling him with Christmas gifts under the tree. I can't wait to put him in his, "My first Christmas" outfit and take pictures by the tree with all his gifts. I know, I take a million pictures of him (more than 7,000 on my phone alone.. crazy, I know), but I want to remember every minute, ever silly expression, his little toes, his toothless grin... and enjoy these moments before he runs from my camera like his father does.
Tomorrow we're making milk-pops, ordering pumpkin oil and going to give his amber & hazel teething necklace another try. He needs some relief and selfishly, I need some relief too.. and coffee. I'm out! Ah!
No comments:
Post a Comment