As you can see in the last two pictures, I had an assistant for Eli's photos this month. Emmy continues to dote on her little brother, and he is very patient with her. He is a good sport to let her bury him in stuffed animals or cover him up with a blanket. She also loves reading to him and giving him extra air when he is bouncing in his exersaucer. "Be gentle with your brother" seems to be a common phrase during this quarantine.
Eli has not rolled over from his back to his belly yet, but he is so very close! Although he has not made the full roll, he will often balance on his side or crane his head to look over his shoulder. His other tricks right now include: clapping, balancing while standing and holding on to the crib, scooting around on his backside when he is on the floor, and pulling on the hanging objects in his rainforest play mat. He also likes grabbing his feet when he is barefoot and sucking on his two middle fingers. This habit started several months ago, and he primarily does it when he is hungry or tired. We have noticed that he has started using his right arm to lock his fingers in, playing defense against his big sister who likes to pull them out of his mouth.
We are working on sitting up unassisted. Eli still tends to topple forward after a few seconds, but he is staying upright for longer and longer. The boppy has been helpful for just that little bit of extra support.
Eli was previously already wearing size 2 diapers at night, and we just moved up to size 2 diapers during the day, too. I will soon be switching over Eli's drawers to make room for the 6-9 month clothes. His 6-month appointment isn't until the 28th so I don't know his exact stats, but I can tell that he is growing. One sign is that he no longer needs a pillow under his feet when he is in the exersaucer. He can reach the carpet with his tippy toes in order to give him just enough of a bounce. The exersaucer continues to be one of his favorite activities, and we use it often during mealtimes to keep him occupied while we are eating.
Bedtime is between 7:30PM and 8PM. In my last post, I may have spoken a little too soon about Eli sleeping through the night. He is back to waking up between 4AM and 5AM for a "dream feed," and then he will generally wake up for the final time around 7AM. Since I am not going to work right now, this schedule isn't so bad. I too will go back to sleep until 7AM (a whole two hours later than if I was reporting to my school building!) When I go into Eli's room in the morning, he welcomes me with the sweetest smile and will thump his legs off of the mattress, usually moving around the crib as he does. We are still using the swaddle at night and for naptime; we secure it around his mid-chest, below his armpits. He is napping around 9:30AM and again around 1PM. I plan to soon transition to the sleep sack, which was very successful with Emmy. We will then use the sleep sack until they say it is safe to use a real blanket.
We have continued feeding Eli rice cereal before his midday nursing and nap. He is a very eager and enthusiastic eater, and I hope that continues as we will soon introduce other things like sweet potatoes, carrots, and apples. The plan is to slowly introduce different fruits and vegetables to hopefully widen his palate for other tastes. About two weeks ago, we caught a glimpse of the first tooth poking through his bottom gum. In the last few days, there looks to be a second tooth coming in right next to it. I will certainly miss that newborn gummy grim, but it is such a blessing to have our happy, growing bundle of joy!
UPDATE 5/28/2020: We had Eli's 6-month appointment today. He weighed in at a healthy 15 pounds 4 ounces; he was 26 inches in length and had a head circumference of 17.5 inches. I am not sure if the percentiles are entirely correct...according to the printout I received, his weight was in the 10th percentile and his length in the 17th percentile. He has always looked long, so I was surprised to see such a low percentile for that one. I suppose we'll check again in August when we return for the 9-month appointment. Today's visit included a few more vaccines, and Eli didn't like those very much. Poor guy didn't know what was coming in this picture!
No comments:
Post a Comment