Month five was great. Chloë is no longer a newborn; she's a real baby, and a real person. She's pretty easygoing but doesn't like to be alone, or out of our arms very long. She loves eating from a spoon. She likes to grab, she likes to shake rattles, she likes to play. She's a lot more fun than she used to be.
The fifth month ended (technically just before, but like I said, I'm late writing this) with the bang of her first Christmas, when she received loads of toys and clothes and new-to-her relatives (including a brand-new baby cousin), and her first New Year's Eve, which she met as I assume most babies do, asleep in bed. Getting her to sleep better in her crib has been one of the signal accomplishments of the month. We finally started doing the cry-it-out method (which actually involves checking on her every three minutes, then every four, every five, etc.) and while hearing her cry is still heart-rending, she's doing better at getting to sleep at night and even for naps. She still doesn't sleep through the night, but she goes to bed at around 9 and her next feeding is at around 3:30, and that's a lot better than it has been.
Her four-month checkup went excellently; she was 16 lb. 4 oz., about 95th percentile for weight, healthy and normal, and still hates shots. I'm still a little annoyed that she blamed me rather than, say, the nurse who injected her. The trip to Seattle and back showed she's an excellent flier, and patient, and loves people. In fact she just generally seems to love life these days.
Everything still goes in the mouth, and we believe she's just started teething: now when our fingers get pulled into her mouth, they get gnawed instead of sucked. She continues to be very drooly, and her mouth is chapped, so I've been applying Aquaphor (a petrolatum-based lotion) to try to help. She hasn't seemed fussy due to pain, but we bought some baby Orajel, just in case, and there are some teething rings in the fridge.
Rolling never caught on; she did it once more in Seattle, while none of us were watching, and that's been it. "Been there, done that," she says. "Let's move on." Now she likes to "fly" on her tummy--all four limbs lifted off the ground--and try to pull herself up into a sitting position. She's mastered tripoding and moved on to actual sitting. She can't actually pull herself up yet, but if you place her there, she stays (at least for a while). It's amazing. My baby can sit. Her grandfather also taught her the trick of being pulled up to her feet, and now we play the sit/stand game: I take her hands and pull her to a sitting position, then standing, then sitting, then standing. It's the greatest game since the Baby Wiggle Wobble Dance. (Note: every new mother makes up inane songs to sing to her child, right?)
Food has been a big thing this month. Chloë has now had rice, oatmeal, sweet potatoes, bananas, apples, green beans, carrots, and beef. Also water, in the form of sips from my cup and an ice cube from her Nana. (The kid has four grandmothers and not one wants to be called "Grandmother." They're Mimaw, Omi, Halmoni, and Nana. I guess it cuts down on confusion.) She's lukewarm about water and beef and very down on green beans, but loves everything else.
The colds have continued, but they haven't been as bad as the first one. We've been using saline drops on her to get things loosened up, and she doesn't like it, but she hates having her nose wiped more. You'd think she'd be glad to get the snot off her face and out of her nostrils, but no, her Overlordness wishes to be left alone with her snot, thank you very much. However she can't enforce that wish until she gets her hands on a blaster, so she's out of luck for the time being.
She's expressing her opinion on a lot of things these days; the "Aaaaaah" is still there, but there are some "Baaas" and "Gahhs" and "Ayyyyys" and squeals mixed in. She talks to us, and we talk to her, and I think we're settling in as a family now. It's a very nice feeling.
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