Month five

Dear Xavier,

Why does five months sound so much older than four months? Every day I’m so excited to see the new things that you are learning and doing, but also a little sad to see my baby disappearing before my eyes.

Perhaps the biggest excitement of the month for you was the acquisition of some new toys…an exersaucer and a doorway jumper. You could jump and jump and jump for hours if we let you! Some days you jump in the hallway at the high school while Mommy and Daddy go to track practice and you garner quite the audience. You still love to show off for all the high school students that we teach and coach. Those kids love to play with you after hearing all the stories that we tell about you in class. And Daddy likes to imitate your faces and expressions for his classes…I think this might scare them a little…somehow it’s not quite as cute on a 32 year old…

You love to GRAB things. And what is closer to grab and pull than the face of the person who is holding you? Our cheeks, our noses, my hair are all fair game. But even more fun than that is grabbing the cats’ fur!! The presence of the kitties brightens your whole world as you smile and laugh and coo at them. But I’m not sure we can say the same for cats. Mommy is working on teaching you how to pet them softly…and not end up with a fistful of fur! Little do the cats know that in a few more months they won’t be so easily able to run away from you. I’m hoping that someday they like you as much as you like them!

You are completely comfortable rolling over and being on your tummy now. So I’ve been working with you on some new skills like sitting up. The first time we tried to show Daddy, you slammed your head into the mirror…I don’t think Daddy was too happy with me after that. When you balance on your hands, you are able to sit up, but most of the time you lunge after a colorful toy in front of you instead…and then continue to pursue the toy with a type of movement that looks more like swimming than an attempt to crawl.

My absolute favorite sound in the world is the sound of your laughter! Such random things can make you laugh—even the sound of paper tearing. I’m on a daily quest to find new ways to make you laugh just so I can hear that sound. I hope that as you grow up, you will continue to see the joy in the simple parts of life!

Love,
Mommy