Katelyn,

It seems that I failed to write anything about you turning 5 months, try not to feel to bad though I’m quite sure I skipped that month with your brother too. The past two months have been pretty big for you little girl.

You’re getting so much better at self entertaining which in turn makes my job just a little bit easier. I can leave you “alone” for stretches of almost 15 minutes now, which doesn’t seem like a lot but trust me it is. In the morning especially you are content to lay on the floor with your brother and watch cartoons. You’re also becoming more interested in toys as you’ve started to master your flailing little hands. When Chase was your age I tried to be careful about buying all of the bigger toys in gender neutral patterns and colors so that they could be reused. So far you have refused both his bouncy chair and his swing and had to have ones of your own. It seems that we are going the same route with the exersaucer, you don’t mind to sit in it but you are BORED with the toys on it. I’m not going to relent easily on this though because holy moly those things are expensive but I guess I’ll look around on Craigslist and maybe we’ll find a different one.

Last month at the ripe old age of five and a half months I packed you up and we got on a plane to visit California. I’m not going to lie I was super nervous about a four plus hour plane ride with you, you aren’t exactly the most laid back of babies. I’m happy to report that considering your behavior on the travel days alone you are now my preferred travel partner. You were so good on the plane, you fell asleep easily after a bottle on both legs of the trip. When you were awake you were content to sit on my lap and play quietly. Hell we even managed 3 trips to the airplane bathroom with so much grace that I’ve openly bragged about it. Many of our fellow passengers remarked to me that they didn’t even realize there was a baby on board. There were a few small issues getting through the airport, I almost dropped your squirmy butt a couple of times trying to carry you, push the stroller and control my bags. I also scared about 10 years off of a poor TSA agent when your car seat fell off the counter at security, I guess they thought you were still in it, or that I was going to drop you trying to catch it.

Another big step you’ve taken is the addition of baby food to your diet. It was not easy to get you eating off of a spoon little girl. You had and still have the most amazing tongue thrust reflex I’ve ever seen. I could put the spoonful of food almost in your throat and you would push it right back out with your tongue. To say that I was frustrated was quite the understatement. Coupled with your brother’s refusal to eat anything but chicken and crackers I was overwhelmed so I did what any good mother does, I left for a work trip and let your grandmothers sort it out. I came home and magically you were eating baby food. It’s not an exact science yet and some days are better than others but we’re getting there.

I love you baby girl, more and more every day. You (and your brother) are my whole world.

xoxo
mama