My sweet Owen is five months old! Actually, five and a half- I'm a little late in writing this. Owen continues to be such a joy, and I can't believe that he will be six months old in just a few short weeks.
Owen is getting to be so much fun and so interactive. Owen loves to play with his toys and is always picking one up and shoving it straight into his mouth. Sophie the Giraffe is in heavy rotation right now, and I think teething is not far off for Owen. He is drooling like crazy all the time and absolutely loves to gnaw on anything and everything. He has also started to play in the jumparoo, which he really likes. He still likes the Bumbo too, although only in short increments. Owen also loves playing "choo-choo" and patty-cake.
Owen has such a happy, content little personality. He wakes up happy and smiling, and remains smiley through most of the day. He really only fusses when he's sleepy or hungry... other than that, he's good to go. My favorite thing is when he wakes up and I go to his crib to get him. As soon as he sees me, he gets so excited and smiley and then he lets me snuggle him for a minute before I change his diaper and feed him. Owen also loves his daddy and brother so much. He's always watching them and smiling for them.
I have been stressed out about Owen's eating since his four month appointment. I just want him to chunk up a little (although I think that he looks like a perfectly healthy and chubby baby as is) and gain some poundage. I took him in for a weight check a few weeks after his four month appointment. The good news? He had gained almost a pound since his last appointment- thank goodness my efforts were paying off! The (kind of) bad news? He was still only in the 3rd percentile! Maybe he's just destined to be a little guy... there's nothing wrong with that, as long as he holds steady on his growth. He's still a really good eater, although I wish he had just a bit bigger of an appetite. Owen has been absolutely fascinated with watching us eat- no doubt about it, he wants to be eating too. We started to give him rice cereal a few weeks ago, and he was all about it! Feeding him was an absolute mess, but Owen was so happy to be getting some "food." Since then, he's tried baby food too (usually 1-2 times each day), and he loves it. The only thing that seems to be giving him an upset stomach is peas- he acted fussy for a few hours afterward and kept spitting up. For the most part, I'm trying to give him the higher calorie baby food options like sweet potatoes, carrots, bananas, etc. rather than just the lower calorie ones like squash, peas, etc., although I plan on feeding him a little bit of everything. I'm determined that Owen will not be a picky eater like Dylan!!! Owen has been getting better about eating without ending up covered in baby food- we still strip him down for the whole process though.
Owen has continued to be a great sleeper. We put him down for bed at 8 pm, and he usually wakes up sometime between 4-6 am for a snack, and then he sleeps until about 8 am the next day. I'm debating whether or not I should try to sleep train him... I don't feel like he's starving when does his one wake up, but that it may be out of habit. I think that I'll probably wait a few more weeks until his 6 month appointment with his pediatrician and talk to him about it. While I'd rather not be waking up at night, 15 minutes once a night is not that bad. Owen takes 3-4 naps a day, and can stay awake for up to 2 hours at a time. His naps continue to be about an hour in length, although every once in a while he'll have a super long nap.
We sure love our little Squishy (or Squishy Boy, Squish-a-roo, Squish, etc.)... here are a few of my favorites from month 5.
