Happy five months

My beautiful Luc,

You are five months old today! It's hard to believe that in five short months, you have changed from a tiny newborn to a very grown up and active baby. You have always been very independent of course, but now you're even more so. You can't wait to get moving! Sometimes when I'm holding you, you'll twist your body, push your arms against me, and lean forward like you're trying to get down! Where are you trying to go? You can't really walk yet, you know.

You are an exquisitely happy baby. As a testament to this, you haven't complained at all since getting your very first cold a week ago. You've been stuffed up and it's been hard for you to eat at times, but you continue to smile and laugh and bounce and kick and play, even when you're obviously uncomfortable. I even figured out how to make you smile while aspirating your nose! If I tickle your tummy a little first, you don't even seem to notice, and if I say "boooggerrrrs!" while I'm sucking out the nasty stuff, you actually laugh! And your laugh, the sound just about takes my breath away.

You are such a smart boy! You've even learned the purpose of most of your toys. You'll shake a rattle or small teether toy, moving your arm in huge sweeping motions. And then you'll put it in your mouth (you put everything in your mouth). In your entertainer you lift the edges of the pages of the little book and bang your hands on the animal buttons. I know you know what you're doing, because when you turn to the spinner toy, you place your hand on it, palm down, and rock it back and forth, listening to the zipzipzipzip sound it makes.

You are so active and so strong! You can already sit up by yourself for a minute or two (or five), sometimes longer depending on the surface. You've been able to stand by yourself since you were about 4 weeks old, but now if we lean you against something, you'll hang onto it for balance and stay up without our help (of course we are always behind you ready to catch you if you fall). And when we hold your hands (hannys), your feet just go, go, go! You love to dance and you already seem to be getting the hang of walking, putting one foot in front of the other as you lean forward. And if we walk along with you, you can go all the way across a room!
You still enjoy lying on your play mat, though lately you've been on a roll! You'll swing your legs to one side or the other, then grunt and push up with your feet until you make a little triangle, bottoms up! You squirm until you end up on your tummy, then you lift up your head for a moment to check out the scenery, then back over you go! It's really quite cute. Everything you do is cute!

You aren't talking a lot yet, and barely anything discernible, but sometimes you will say amma, or umma (which I hope means you'll say mamma soon!). We haven't heard any other consonant sounds, except for the occasional ga or nung. Daddy and I joke that your first word (which you started saying probably over a month ago) was nung, which is the word for the number one in Lao.

You do love to sing though (scream, yell, sing, it's all the same)! Long and loud and high and squealy, with lots of vowel sounds, oooooh, oooooooie, eyaaaaaah. Sometimes we sing together. I hope I'm not throwing you off key and destroying your chances of becoming a professional musician!

We have also started signing with you. So far we are only signing words like Mommy, Daddy, baby, dog, milk, and I love you, the things we say all the time anyway. Eventually we'll add words related to table eating, other activities, and feelings (such as hungry, all done, play, tired, happy). It's exciting to imagine being able to communicate with you in this way!

You do seem to know your name, though I'm not sure if you are more attracted to the sound of our voices or the name itself. I hope I haven't confused you too much by not always calling you Luc! I call you Luc a lot of the time, but I love to call you by your other names too (Munchkinoo(dle), Babyboy, Monkey, Lovey, etc.). Daddy calls you Boooyyyeeeee a lot. Granpop calls you Lukielukielukie, or Lukiepookie. Aunt Rachel just calls you Lukie. Granny calls you Lovebug. Now that I think about it, if you have actually managed to learn your name through all that, you must be really smart!

You do know who Kelly is, and you totally love her. When I ask you where your furry dog is, you look around and squeal in delight when you see her! You love to touch her and watch her play and hear her bark. The other night she sneezed and you cracked up laughing (twice)! And she loves you too. She tries sometimes to turn and run her body along your entertainer in hopes that you'll pet and scratch her. She lets you grab her nose, her ears, her eyelids, whatever you get a hold of (we are already trying to teach you to be gentle). When you cry she runs to your side. She even licks your face! You two are going to be great friends.

Ever since you were born, you have favored left over right. You've always turned your head to the left with ease, but we had to work on your skills at turning right (it's almost even now). You even seem to favor your left hand to hold things and have always primarily sucked on the index finger of your left hand. Well, those once weak neck muscles and a preference for the left hand translated into you also sleeping with your head cocked to the left. And because of that, unfortunately the left side of the back of your head is considerably flat, while the right side is noticeably round. We are now doing everything we can to balance it out, before it's too late. I was hoping your hair would just grow in and cover up the uneven shape of your head, but Daddy is very concerned. Most recently we've tilted your cosleeper mattress hoping that gravity will lead you to look the other way as you sleep. But I don't know... If you are reading this and it's 2019 and you are thirteen and shaved heads are all the rage, please don't hate us. We tried.

You love staying with Granny and Paw Paw when I go to work. And they spoil you rotten! You have as many toys at Granny's house as you do at home! She lets you watch cartoons and gives you baths in the sink and spends a good portion of the day changing your diaper. She rocks you and sings to you when it's nap time, and when you do fall asleep, she often holds you the whole time. We are so lucky that you are able to stay with someone who loves you.

Speaking of baths, you are pretty pleased with our recent purchase of this inflatable ducky tub (and I am too). You are having so much fun splashing and kicking and sitting up in it (mostly) by yourself. It's a sight to see!

This month will be my last as your only source of food. We are going to start you on mushy type foods (rice cereal and vegetables first) at six months. I really do think you are ready, but believe me, I am not. It's so much easier only having to think about one thing, and especially when that one thing never has to be prepared or heated or measured, and when there are never any dishes to do (except bottles and pump parts, but don't get me started on that) or allergies to worry about. We are, of course, going to continue to breastfeed as long as you want to (unless you want to do it for as long as your Daddy did, which, as much as I love you, is not going to happen).

Breastfeeding has become kind of challenging lately. You are so curious about everything around you, and you become distracted very easily. Nursing in public is often impossible. Even nursing at Granny's house is tough. But I know that this is just another phase of our nursing journey. I try to read your cues and be very patient with you, talking to you and patting your back. Sometimes when you refuse to latch on, even when I know you are hungry, I have to let Daddy take you for a while before trying again. Sometimes I retreat to a quiet place with you and we just focus on each other. This morning sitting in the glider chair in your room nursing you, I knew that those four and a half minutes (you are a very efficient eater, always have been) would be the sweetest of the entire day.

In my opinion you are a very good sleeper, even though you still wake two or three times a night to eat and snuggle. You sleep right next to our bed in a cosleeper, and sometimes end up in our bed for hours at a time throughout the night. Often when you wake to nurse, I position you next to me, then fall back to sleep even before you are finished. In fact, neither of us fully wakes up. It's a great feeling to have you so close. You are little for only so long...

And you are a very loving baby. You light up when you see us and fill us up with love! And for the past couple of months you have been hugging. You'll throw your arms around our necks and squeeze, occasionally digging into our skin with your sharp little nails. But that doesn't even matter. A hug from you is the best thing in the whole world.

The joy you bring us is immeasurable! We are so lucky to have you in our lives. You are one special little boy. And I just love being your mom. Happy five months, Munchkinoo!

Love,
Mommy