Will at 5 Months

In two days, my son will be 5 months old.  I honestly have no idea where the time has gone.  I feel like the 40 weeks of my pregnancy took at least 3 times as long as they should have, but the time since Will was born has been on fast-forward.  My little newborn (well, as little as a 10 lb newborn can be) has transformed into such a big strong guy.  He has almost doubled in weight and grown almost 9 inches in length since he was born.  His eyes are beginning to change color, and much to my amazement I can feel his first tooth about to come in.  He was born with a fair amount of dark hair, of which he lost most in the first month, and has since grown back a full head of hair the same color mine was as a baby. 

He looks like both Eli and me. He has Eli's forehead, eyebrows, eyes, duck feet and strange bottom rib. From me he gets his hair color, cheeks (dimples included), mouth and chin.  And yet he also looks uniquely like himself.  I can dissect the various features easily, but when I look at him I see Will, no resemblance to anyone, just my beautiful son. 

He can do so many things already.  It was just a short time ago that we needed to carefully cradle his head because his neck wasn't strong enough to maintain stability.  Now he pushes himself up with his arms to look around while on his belly.  He can roll both from his back to his belly and vise versa.  He stands with help only to balance and he is desperately trying to sit up without help.  He reaches for and plays independently with his toys, and loves to stand in his activity center and intact with everything it offers.  He is occasionally mesmerized by his mobile, and board books are beginning to hold his interest from start to finish.

He is such a problem solver!  For example, he constantly wants to taste his bath water, which we of course try to keep him from for the most part.  He started by just licking his fist after dipping it into the water, or catching droplets that ran down his face.  When that wasn't enough he tried to get the washcloth in his mouth for a taste.  Next he tried to swiftly slink down into his tub trying to get his mouth at water level, and when that didn't work he moved on to slowly lowering himself into the water and then casually turning his head to the side to try and lap the water up like a cat.  The next thing we know he will be employing simple machines to achieve his goal.

Will's personality is also starting to take shape.  He is a happy baby.  He is very easy to please as long as he isn't left alone for too long or allowed to get too tired.  He loves to be played with and talked to.  He smiles at strangers almost as easily as he smiles at me and Eli. Even when he is upset, he just wants to be cuddled and soothed, very rarely crying for more than 5- 10 minutes.   He cranky occasionally and when he is he scratches his head over and over in big strokes and grabs the hand or hair of whoever is holding him and pulls it towards him irritably.  He is stubborn, and gets frustrated when he can't do something he desperately wants to do.  He wants to be where ever we are if he is awake, even if that means sitting in his high chair when I do dishes or playing on the bed when I fold laundry.   He thinks Daddy is the funniest guy on the planet, and Momma is the best at tickling him.

All of this makes me wonder how fast the rest is going to go.  I have caused myself plenty of restless nights thinking about how quickly he is going to grow up and start dealing with issues that I currently feel completely unprepared to guide him through.  The most loving, prepared and well-intentioned parents can manage to really screw something up with their kids, and I know we will not be an exception.  I think about how I grew up and what I DON'T want to do with my children, but also some of the things I do want to pass on.  I am writing some of these things down in the journal we are keeping for Will.  Hopefully doing so will be helpful for us as well as him.

In the meantime I am trying to focus on Will in the present, and look forward to his immediate future rather than too far down the road.  This past Saturday, Will tried his first rice cereal, and decided he likes it just fine.  He has had very little trouble figuring out the concept of the spoon, and has eaten his daily portion consistently so far.  It won't be long before he is trying his first vegetables, learning to crawl, and figuring out his first words.  Lord save me when he learns to talk because he is already a loud mouth like me without knowing any words.