Five Months Old

Our little chubster is five months old!  And growing growing.  He weighed 15 pounds, 12 ounces at his four month check up (about a week after turning four months old).  Alex weighed 15 pounds, 2 ounces at six months!  They both weighed 13 pounds at two months, but Ethan really packed on the pounds the last two months (ha).  I love it.  I love those chubby cheeks & fat rolls.  So kissable!

A lot has happened this month - he rolls back to tummy & tummy to back like a pro, he's sleeping in his bed & not the bouncer chair (yay!), he will get up on all fours & rock like he's about to start crawling & as you can see from the picture above, he wants so badly to sit up by himself.  I kept trying to lean him back into the chair but he wasn't having it.  He hasn't quite mastered his balance so I have several pictures of him toppling forward.  I don't think it will be long before he can keep himself upright, though!

He's still sleeping pretty well in his bed.  He'll usually either sleep all night without any problems until 7 or 8 or he'll wake up around 5:30 or 6.  Sometimes he goes back to sleep but sometimes he's wide away & ready to party.  I prefer the 7 or 8 wake up - ha.

We got out the jump-a-roo a few weeks ago & he loves it.  The boy is a jumper!  He also likes to lay on a blanket, roll onto his tummy & grab toys.  He's not crawling yet but he can get where he wants to go by rolling or scooting.  We haven't baby proofed our new house yet, but we need to do it soon.  This boy is going to be fully mobile in no time.

Ethan went on his first trip this month.  We went to a state park to celebrate Father's Day with our families.  We rented two cabins & had a great time.  It was over a three hour drive to get there but both Alex & Ethan did great.  Ethan is so easy going - we are very lucky!  He loved being around the families.  There were a lot of people to entertain him & give him lots of attention!  He's gotten pretty expressive lately & loves to squeal & giggle - especially when he has an audience.

Of course Alex wanted to take a picture with his brother - it's becoming routine with Ethan's monthly photo shoots.  So cute.

 

Enjoying his jump-a-roo at the cabin

 

Love those sweet faces!

Sound the Trumpets

Guess who's sleeping in his crib & not his bouncy chair??  He's actually been sleeping in his crib for a few weeks now but I haven't gotten around to posting.  The transition was easier than we feared.  He actually slept great the first two nights.  Seven hours the first, nine hours the second!  Then we had a few hiccups.  He's been waking up anywhere from 3 am - 5:30 am.  Most nights we could get him back to sleep but sometimes he just wanted to stay up & party.  Not fun for Mom & Dad.  But (knock on wood), he slept the last two nights in his crib all night - whoo hoo!

Please let the record show, we are not bragging about this, but humbly stating our thankfulness for the sleep.  I wouldn't want to jinx ourselves & go back to the 3 am wake up calls.  Ha.

As you can see, little man is a tummy sleeper.  It worries me a little since babies are supposed to sleep on their backs but now that he's a pro at rolling over (both ways), we can't really stop it.  And he's much happier on his tummy in bed.  Alex was (and still is) the same way.  Considering how anxious I was about moving him from the chair to the bed, I don't care how he sleeps as long as he's happy & sleeps long stretches!  

Tales of My Two Year Old

It feels like I post a lot about Ethan since I do monthly updates.  I don't want my first born feeling left out (even though I posted monthly updates on him when he was Ethan's age).  Two years old is a challenging age in some ways but entertaining & fun, too.  Alex's conversation skills have really developed in the last few months.  Here are a few recent memorable moments.

He stepped in dog poop a few times in the backyard, so we've told him to watch where he walks & watch out for dog poop.  We also planted some trees on the side of our yard.  They started flowering & have been a hot spot for bees.  We told him not to go over by the trees because of the bees.  Now every time he goes in the backyard, he says, "Watch out for bees, watch out for dog poop."  In fact, if someone comes over & goes in the backyard, he quickly gives them the warning.  It's really cute.  One time our dog Sadie was over by the trees & he started yelling, "Sadie, bees!"  He was very concerned.  I explained Sadie had fur & was protected from the bees.  Now he's ok if Sadie goes over there.

Sometimes when I tell him something like, please don't get in that drawer, he'll say, "Otay Mama" (that's how he says "ok").  His tone is so cute like he thinks I'm silly for asking but he'll humor me.

He's very sweet with his brother.  If Ethan starts crying, Alex will go over to him & say, "It's otay, Ethan".  If Ethan cries in the car, Alex will say, "Ethan, Ethan" in a sing-songy voice because that's what I do sometimes.

One of his favorite sayings is "no way".  "Alex, do you want to go inside?"  "No way."

He started saying "Oh man!" like Swiper in Dora the Explorer.  It cracks us up.  Then the other day, he was in a grumpy mood & I said, "Oh man!"  He did not approve & said, "Not do that any more."  Then Michael & I started tormenting him by saying other things like "Okey dokey" & "All righty roo" to which he replied "Not do that any more!" 

We were getting ready to head to my parents' house.  My sister was in the backseat with the boys & Ethan was crying (he doesn't like to sit in the car unless it's moving).  My sister said to Alex, "What's wrong with Ethan?" & Alex replied, "Probably needs his paci."  I'd never heard him use the word "probably" so it cracked us up.

We ran into a friend we haven't seen in a long time in a parking lot.  We rolled down the window, so she could see the boys.  She said hi to Alex & he said, "Do you like Toms?"  (He was wearing his Toms shoes).  It was so random but cute.

Michael kept telling Alex to say "Happy Mother's Day" to me on Mother's Day.  He said it several times but always prompted by Michael.  That night when I put him to bed & was leaving his room, he said, "Happy Mother's Day!"  I melted.

I was cutting up a cucumber one day.  I had sliced it & was cutting the peel off each slice with a knife.  The result was a more angular cucumber slice rather than round.  I was giving Alex bites & he kept holding up the slices & saying a word I didn't understand.  He would say the word & then say 1, 3, 4, 8, 7 (that's strangely how he counts if he does it fast - he can count to 20 if he goes slow).  Finally I realized he was saying octagon.  The slices did look like octagons!  And he was counting to try to communicate that it had 8 sides.  I couldn't believe it.  He has a shape book that we read a lot but it doesn't have any octagons - only rectangles, circles, ovals, triangles, etc.  I'm telling you - the boy is a genius!  

I was pouring dog food into airtight containers - the bag slipped & food spilled on the floor.  Alex was right behind me & said - "Oh Mama" & shook his head.  Hilarious!

He likes to eat cheerios in a bowl with milk now & sometimes I add fruit.  One morning, I asked him what he wanted for breakfast.  He said, "Cheerios, in a bowl, with milk, and blueberries."  I said I'd put some raspberries in there, too, but he replied he only wanted blueberries.  Then I told him we needed to use the raspberries before the weekend (we were going to be out of town) before they went bad.  He said that was ok.  While I was washing the raspberries, he said, "Hurry, Mama, hurry.  In my bowl before they go bad!"  Poor guy thought they would go bad before he had a chance to eat them. 

I know there are many more stories I'm leaving out but I guess I'd better wrap it up now.  It's amazing watching him grow & develop every day!