Happy Five Months!

Charles continues to grow longer, but didn't put on as much weight as we would have thought. He is now 27 inches and 15 pounds, which puts him into the 90th and the 30th percentiles. The doctor isn't too concerned yet since he didn't loose any weight and breastfed babies take what they need, but we are going to be starting solids a littler earlier than originally planned. In fact, as soon as we bring up the high chair from storage, we should have cute pictures to share. In other food related news, he is starting to show symptoms of the dairy allergy but for now we are just keeping an eye on it and not making any changes.

One of the reasons that he may not be gaining as much weight is that he is constantly on the move. He has mastered rolling over and now it is hard to keep him on his back. He is trying very hard to stand, and seems to want to skip sitting entirely. He also seems to be eagerly trying to crawl, but not quite able to do so yet. He has found his feet and is much more interactive with us. He loves when we have dance parties, and loves it even more when Peter pays attention to him. He is playing with his toys, passing them between his hands. He loves Sophie, but anything that crinkles or makes bell like noises holds his attention. Right now his favorite toy is his moose, which he plays with in his car seat as we walk Peter to camp in the mornings.

And he has found his voice. He is mostly saying vowels, but tonight he did say "Mama" more than once. I don't have video, but both Geoff and Peter heard him say it. Not that he knows what it means yet, but yay! He is definitely a laugher, Peter can get him to laugh more than anyone else, but he has big belly laughs for all of us.

From BabyCenter.com:

At five months, most children can:
Distinguish between bold colors – Don't know how to determine this.
Play with his hands and feet – Like I said, he has found his feet. Also, sometimes it seems like he has found his hands again and they are the most interesting toys to him. It is so very cute.

At five months, half the children can:
Recognize his own name – Something else I'm not sure how to tell. Is he responding to his name, or just our voices?
Turn toward new sounds – He does this.
Roll over in both directions - As of right now, he just seems to be rolling from back to front.

At five months, a few children can:
Sit momentarily without support – Yes, but he isn't all that stable.
Mouth objects – All the time. He is a big fan of his two fingers, loves to chew my fingers and tries to get all his toys into his mouth. I don't remember Peter doing this that much, but it might just be selective memory.
Separation anxiety may begin – Haven't really noticed this yet.

And finally, there are more pictures in our July album on Picasa, which I will keep adding to for the rest of the month. I also have a few more posts to come with pictures and firsts.