Rollin' Rollin' Rollin' : Bananas and Flip-- 5 Month Milestones

Julia,

This week has been a big one for you, little 5 Month Miss!

First of all, you had your first real food besides breast milk and rice cereal. And it was a big hit!

It's yellow and sweet, mushes up good to eat. Throw in a little breast milk for consistency and serve with a spoon.

Your Mommy's been feeding you bananas for three days now, but yesterday I finally had the opportunity to do it, and you made it so easy.

You were bananas for bananas! 

Trying to take the spoon, opening wide, making a little bit of mess...It was a hit!

You ate a quarter of a banana! I bet you would have eat more too had I put it near enough.

And, look Mikey, She likes it! And then, since your Mom was getting you a root canal, you drank a whole bottle of milk too...and -to keep with the theme of impressing us by your leaps and bounds- you pretty much got the hang of holding your own bottle. This is pretty impressive, considering that you have no practice at it whatsoever, since you've probably only had 5 bottles in your life.

But, nevertheless, you're were hands on!

This week's also been a big success for you on the floor. You're officially a roller-overer! You did it once a while ago. Then you tried for a long while...

...getting so close!

Then last week we saw results of it twice, but never saw you do it.

Well this week, you're rolling over pretty routinely, once you're bored of eating your socks and chewing on your toes. In fact, just about every time you're on your back, you wind up rolling over to your tummy!

Whether you're just hanging out...

...with company...

or nekked!

Once you're on your tummy, you reach for toys, look around, attack some giraffes, smile a lot, check out the world and sometimes get kissed by a dad or brother.

...and then once you get tired of being on your tummy you complain until we help you roll back over. You're not an ambi-turner yet, but you'll get there soon enough. 

No rush though. That was certainly more than enough growing up for one week for me, little miss.

You're Number One!

Aidan,

Last week, you kinda seemed like you wanted to be naked. So, you were naked. And something clicked. You were playing, playing and had a little accident. But, you told your Mommy "pee pee," and the two of you cleaned it up.

Then, your Mommy was making lunch and she saw a naked blur run quickly past her. It was you! You said "pee pee potty!" and you ran into the bathroom, climbed up on the potty, sat down and peed all by yourself!

We are both so proud of you!

And this trend of nakedness and potty time success continued! When you were outside, you (mostly) peed on the same bush that we asked you to 'water' and when you were inside, you said 'pee pee potty' and (quickly) ran to the bathroom to do your thing!

You pretty much finished off a whole sticker chart in one day!

One morning you woke up and got naked and then you were just playing. You didn't have to go immediately. But then, out of the blue, you said "PEE PEE POTTY POO POO!" And ran from what you were doing to go sit on the potty and knock out a major deuce.

Your Mommy and Daddy were (and are) so proud of you!

Like I said...something clicked. The light went on and you now know what you need to do...when you need to do it...and where it should go.

Now, accidents happen, because that's what they do. And they're no big deal. But, for the most part, you've been right on target over the past few days...and you've been naked or bottomless for the better part of a week. You're aiming straight, and getting where you need to go.

Another potty chart filled- and this one was a biggie! We took you to see "Wreck-it Ralph" at the BIG movies again. And you loved it.

Not just because of your recent successes on the porcelain throne, but for a laundry list of amazing accomplishments and milestones achieved, we're- again- so proud of you. You're such a good boy! You're Number One!

5 Months old and I can't believe it.

Julia,

My precious, sweet, laughing, easy-going, lovable little girl. You are now 5 months old! Can you believe it?

I can't. I mean, just mere moments ago you were 0 months old...

And now look at you: you're a wiggle-worm with a sense of humor and a beautiful smile.

You've got such a good spirit, and a good soul. And you make everyone around you happy.

What's new in the life of a 5-month old? Well, you're squirmy! Maneuvering all your limbs all over the place. Makes it quite difficult to put on your pajamas sometimes. When your Mimi and Yaya babysat the other night, it took both of them to get your PJs on.

You still look up to your brother, but you're starting to level the playing field sometime too, grabbing on to his hair, trying to eat his nose a little bit and generally laughing at all his jokes.

You love your toes, especially for holding them, looking at them and trying to eat them.

Speaking of new foods, you got to eat your first solid foods this week. And you did pretty well! But, in true Julia fashion, you started to take the spoon and guide it into your mouth all by yourself. In fact, by the end of your second feeding, the only time you'd open your mouth for the food was when you were holding the spoon too!

You're grasping, talking, eating, maneuvering (we find you in your crib all sorts of cockamamie positions) and most recently, you're really getting the hang of rolling over. No one's seen you do it yet, but TWICE on Wednesday, your Mom turned her back on you for a second and when she turned around you were on your belly!

We don't have any footage or proof of this yet, except first hand anecdotal evidence, but I know we'll catch you on film soon. And, when you're growing this fast- and it's so hard to believe that you've grown so much in these five months- a little bit of proof goes a long way toward making the unbelievable believable.

But...I still don't believe that you're 5 months old. Don't grow too fast, little girl.

Spring; Sprung

Julia, Aidan,

A new season is quickly approaching, and that means it's time for new growth, new skills blossoming, new friends and new reasons to go explore.

It just so happens that as we're talking about spring springing, Julia, you got a taste of springing as well! We figured you're old enough, and Aidan was out of the house at school to not try to push you (which he did later), so we got out the old swing, your Mommy made some mismatched legwarmers really quick, and we plopped you in and let you explore a whole new world of using your legs, and spinning, and just kind of hanging out. You weren't intimidated at all, and took to springing quite calmly: no major jumps, but no major upsets. It was almost like dancing!

But Julia, you're not the only little seedling growing this spring...after Aidan and I got some really good dirt in a bucket, your Mommy and Aidan planted some seeds for our garden.

Okay, well, Aidan did a little, but first he was more interested in eating the seeds...then he was more interested in his new friend, a brave earthworm.

After the incident with the Ladybug a few month's back, and another Ladybug incident that morning (albeit more accidental) it was refreshing to hear you tell me "No Smush, Daddy!" You were determined to hold this earthworm AND keep it alive. As you played outside with the earthworm outside you kept asking it "You Alive?" And, bless your heart, you kept him alive for a good long time. But somewhere along the way, poor earthworm left this mortal coil, and you were so upset. It's hard to hold on to something so small and fragile without it getting smushed a bit. We'll work on that, I promise. It's a hard concept to learn. But, life goes on, and our seeds will grow, and tons of earthworms will make our soil their home. We'll just have to keep them out of little hands for a while longer.

The next day, after you had a lot of fun playing in the sink, I figured "Hey, it's nice enough outside, let's learn about water balloons!" Now here's something that little hands can squish and hold and toss without worry...besides getting a little wet. And you LOVED it.

Orange one! Pink one! Blue one! White one! Tons and tons of fun. 2 days and three 45-minute water ballooning sessions later, and I think we have discovered an awesome way to have fun and get wet...but, then again, 3-year-olds don't necessarily need much help with that.

But between bouncing babes springing in their step, water balloons and planting seeds, I think it's to say that something has sprung.