5 months

Dear Lucy,

This morning, when you woke up an hour and a half early, I wasn’t sure what your deal was. But now I think you may have realized that today was your 5-month birthday and were too excited to sleep. That seems to be a running trend this month, being too excited to sleep. My formerly fabulous napper has become the girl who naps for an hour and then wakes up, plays in her crib for an hour then falls asleep for fifteen minutes right before it’s time to get up. This means you’ve also become one crabby little monkey. Lucky for you, you’re cute even when you’re crabby, or we’d be in trouble.

This month you have also decided that nursing is for babies, and you, little Lucy, are no longer a baby! When I try to tell you that, in fact, yes, you are still a baby, you just laugh and smile and one time I think you even rolled your eyes. Just yesterday I finally figured out a new tactic to get you to sit still and eat, although I’m sure it’s not recommended by the American Association of Pediatrics. I have to sit right in front of the TV and face you toward it, and you become so distracted by the lights and colors you forget that you’re eating. You should see your face when you realize you’ve been tricked. You look so pissed and betrayed, but then the colors light up again and you zone out. Gee, that’s what I call responsible parenting.

You’ve started to fill out even more and are turning into quite the little chunk. Hauling you around in your carseat is virtually impossible, so yesterday you sat in your first high chair. Yesterday we also decided you were finally ready to try your first bit of ‘solid’ food. As unappetizing as the rice cereal looked to us, you LOVED the stuff. You kept grabbing the spoon out of our hands and trying to feed youself because we just couldn’t get it in your mouth fast enough.

I guess that was the big lesson of this month. You’re starting to grow up and are slowing becoming more and more independent. You are officially a little person now, with mood swings and a sense of humor. Even though you are getting more frustrated more often, you are also laughing more often. Every time you catch my eye you bust out into a huge grin. You act like seeing my face is the best thing in the whole world. The feeling is mutual.

Love,
Mama