Emma at Five Months

Five! Months!

I say it every month, and it is always just as true as the month before: I cannot believe how the time has gone by. How big my girl is getting. How sweet and interactive. How social and talkative. How curious.

So there. I said it. Again. 

Size:

birth weight: 7 pounds 1 ounce

five months: 15.5 pounds

birth length: 20 inches

five months: 26.5 inches. I know I said she was 27 last month. Maybe the doctor got her to stretch better than I did. I can't otherwise explain it.

Talents and Skills:

Yelling and screaming. And otherwise making herself heard. The scream, especially, is really exciting to her. It's a little bit awful, say, when I'm at the park, and she keeps screaming repeatedly in a really high pitch. I'm constantly glancing around with this goofy smile, hoping that people won't call the police, thinking I'm injuring or terrorizing my child.

Being grabby. Emma is all HANDS HANDS HANDS LET ME GRAB THAT.

Putting things in her mouth. After she grabs it.

Rolling over. Know how last month, I was all, she's rolled from back to tummy a few times, but we're not sure she knows what she's doing cause she doesn't really do it anymore? Whatever. She just wasn't into it. Like a day after I posted the last month update, Eric walked into the room where I had left her on her back. "Love? Did you leave her on her belly?"
So now her rolling is her main form of transportation. Forget crawling or whatever. She sees something across her play-quilt area, and flips herself over a few times to get to it, then maneuvers herself until she's got it in her mouth.

Sitting up. She can do it. We're working on maintaining balance, because if she sees something off to the side that she thinks deserves her mouth attention, she just falls toward it. FACEPLANT ONTO MOM'S PHONE!
She can also pull herself forward into a sitting position from a reclining position. The first time she did this, we were eating outside, and Emma's bouncy chair was on the table. We were drinking coffee and looking at the WSJ, and Emma suddenly sat forward to see what we were looking at. We freaked out. Like she could have fallen off the table with both of us there to catch her. Still.

Trials, Troubles, Tribulations:

We have a tooth! Or very nearly, we do. It still looks like a white dot on her gum, and is somewhat difficult to see. Especially since you have to hold Emma's mouth open while keeping her tongue out of the way. No small feat. But it's there. Good thing, too. That thing was a pill.

Likes:

Attention. Duh.

Knee-bouncing.

Being outside. I think this will always be true. Won't stop me from putting it on here.

Her elephant mobile. We do this thing now, when after I lift her from her crib after her nap, she reaches out and up excitedly, to try to reach the elephants. I love it that she loves it. Goodness knows it took me long enough to make.

Sitting up.

Showing off new talents. She is super cute about this. She especially likes to show off to Eric. I think she rolls more when he's on the floor with her, just because she loves having him watch her.

Holding "conversations." She'll grab the sides of your face (or your nose or your chin or your hair) and blabaaaaooooeeeaaSCREAM at you, then grin hugely.

Meeting new people. Especially if they adore her. So, meeting new people.

Faces. Also, mom's hair.

Textures. She'll scratch the wall, the chair, the couch, the table, over and over, like it's the most fascinating thing in the world. Or, you know, she'll update Mark's status because the keyboard keys feel cool. Happened.

Being shown her toys. She's at the point where she'll reach out excitedly and grab things -- even if it's pretty small. Her motor control is getting a whole lot better, which I just know everybody was wondering about.

Dislikes:

Not being able to crawl. This frustrates her so. She has the concept of moving forward, but no idea which muscles to use. She'll lay on her belly with this intense look of concentration on her face, like if she focuses hard enough, she'll will herself forward. Doesn't work. Just makes her mad.

Growin' teeth.

Being ignored. For even like, three seconds.

When someone looks away from "talking" with her to do something else.

Being left alone to play with her toys. She demands an audience. She'll play quite happily as long as someone's watching her, but the second they look away, she'll drop the toy in frustration. It's not fun if you don't pay attention to me!