growing up—22 & 23 weeks (the 5 month edition)

Dear Gideon,
Friday, August 24th, you turned 5 months old. It still amazes me that you have been in this world for 23 weeks already. I can't imagine a day without you.

22 weeks

It seems like each day you accomplish another milestone.

You've become so curious about EVERYTHING and it makes me want to explore the mundane and the everyday right along with you. Who knew that a brassy wrapper from a peanut bar could be so enchanting? Or that a bottle of water with a blue label could cause enough interest to make you yank yourself off my nipple for a better view?

A few weeks ago you discovered your feet and then you realized you could put them in your mouth. That is hilarious. You aren't crawling yet, but you want to so bad. Always rolling onto your stomach and then up onto your palms. You'll be moving in no time. I just know it. Sitting in an upright position is getting easier for you. It's only for a few seconds at a time unassisted, but even that impresses me. For those other times we've got your Bumbo chair. We dig it.

You've eaten lots of different veggies already and we've been successful with almost all of them. Green beans, squash, carrots, peas, and sweet potatoes. You seem to like them all, but I'm not so sure about the sweet potatoes. I thought your eyes seemed a little puffy in the days that you ate them. I could be just paranoid and I'll give them to you once more to be sure. You've also eaten pears and bananas. The pears are super yummy but I think the bananas sucked. Not at all like the pudding-esque vision I had in my mind.

I still keep logs of all of your feedings. However, I've come a long way from the obsessive nature I exhibited in the early days. Long gone are the days when I wrote down not only when you started feeding, but how many minutes you ate for on each side. I haven't logged a wet or dirty diaper in months. Now it's just the start time, an L or an R in a circle, and what solids you ate.

You continue to enjoy the company of your dog headed blanket, "Buddy". Buddy is a menace but a telltale sign that your sleepy. When you start to get tired you'll rub the blanket part around your face. Then you'll fight us to not go to sleep until you can no longer keep an eye open.

We signed you up for a 5 week long Kindermusik class back at the end of July. Last Saturday day was our last class and it has been a fun, albeit bizarre experience. We learned lots of songs and little dances and movements to stimulate your brain and encourage the growth of your gross motor skills. The songs are silly and completely infectious which sometimes tortures my very soul when I can't shake the "Here we go my little one, let's go riding, riding, riding..." I'll spare you the rest but will now be singing it in my head for the next half hour or so.

23 weeks

Your hair is gorgeous and it along with those blue eyes convince me that I should exploit you as a baby model. "Oh look at his red hair! Where did he get the red hair from?" Is the most often repeated phrase around strangers or anybody that hasn't seen you in awhile. I think the latter is such a dumb question and I often feel compelled to answer the query with, "The sperm donor." Where do they think it comes from? It's mostly from your Dad's side—just look at that beard—but duh, it comes from the super genetic makeup you get from the two of us. Look at those chunky thighs, you get those from me for sure.

You continue to be incredibly awesome and if I tried to name all the ways you amaze me every day this would go on forever. Thank you for being everything you are, every minute of the day. I love you.

Love,
Mommy