five months, sit up straight Max!

I'm a little ahead of schedule here but Max is five months old now and doing wonderful things. I'm biased because I think that everything Max does is wonderful but I'm amazed when I see him do something that we all take for granted. Like sitting up, this is a significant step in his development. It's significant because now he has access to more--many more experiences. New muscles are developing and little nerves connecting quickly.

Although Max had been sitting for short periods, he'd tip over and start crying or just tip over and lay there. It looked like he just didn't get it yet. But now it's different. On the evening of January 23rd, Amy propped him up after watching him try to get up doing a little belly crunch and this time, he sat and played for a while without crying. This time he'd catch himself with his little arm if he swayed to either side. Eventually, he'd lean over and gravity would get the best of him. He couldn't move his arms fast enough to catch himself and he'd tip over. He still leans forward a bit as is seen in the picture above but it's happening less and less.

Food
Still on formula and probably will be for a while. But he likes squash, peas, and a few other popular Gerber veggies. We haven't tried any of the Beech-Nut stuff yet. He doesn't appear to care for peaches but this is not a problem. I was hoping he'd be interested in veggies but we'll balance it. He loves apple juice and I need to introduce him to grape juice. All juices are good but I'm particularly fond of the health benefits in grape juice.

Toys
He has so many. The other night I introduced Max to Robosapien. I know, I know... the robots had to come out at some point and I can't wait to introduce him to more amazing toys. But in all honesty, I introduced Max to Robosapien to see what he'd do, if anything. The robot danced, wiggled and ran through it's programmed routine and Max watched for a little while. Then Max reached for the left robot gripper and yanked on it. The robot said, "ouch" as it's supposed to when played with too hard and Max pulled harder. Then he let go of it, puked out a little formula, saw the Winnie the Pooh and lost interest in the robot. I need to see if they sell fluffy robots. I ended up putting away and will reintroduce it to Max when he's a year old and see what he does then. For now, Winnie the Pooh, his Teddy blankey and stackable rings keep him happy. Paper! he loves playing with paper. He likes it so much he gets cross-eyed while staring at it and listening to it crinkle and rip, it's really cool to watch.

Other activities
If I'm working outside and the weather is nice, he comes out on his stroller and hangs out with me. We start with a brief stroller ride to the park and then get to our chores. I take a break to change and feed him and then it's back to work. He watches the crows, they're easy for him to see and there are so many sometimes. Other times, Amy or I will take him shopping. I love to watch him take in the world. Especially at night when he can see cars' headlights pass and stores' neon lights. He looks so intently that he does not blink, just follows the lights and says, "oooh". One of our favorite activities is to stroll through the big screen TV section at Frys because he loves the sound and the big screens--typical boy--I like it too.

Bath time is definitely one of Max's favorite activities so we try to do it often, I'm so thankful that he likes his baths. We dip him in warm water and let him splash around for a bit while he cheers and laughs. I scoop some water and pour it on his legs and belly and he smiles. As soon as he can sit up for longer periods of time, I'm going to let him sit in his little tub and let him actually play with some bath toys. I've heard so many stories from parents' whose babies would scream through their bath. But Max seems to be part duck, we'll have to work on a quack.

**Amy took the picture of Max with a little flower gracing his belly button. We were getting him ready for his bath and she found one of the little flowers that Max tore off the plant outside. I would not do this to Max but it'll be a funny picture when he's older.

Vocals
Max is loud and clear. He has more sounds now and some of them are really funny to listen to. He has this sound that makes that sounds like he's saying, "huh?". It's funny to hear when one of us asks a question and out of the blue we'll hear, "huh?". He also has a really funny giggle that comes out when he's really happy. It's what we hear during his bath or when he sees something cool outside. It's hard to describe but it's a warble, like a lamb. It sounds like "ba-a-a-a-a-a..." but without the "ba"--it's really funny. He'll sigh in the mornings, that's really funny to listen to--"ahhh". I don't think he's parroting sounds yet and I don't think he knows his name. We work on it but it still hasn't clicked.

Well so far that's it for five months, I think he's doing great. Next week we go to the doctor and he gets more shots--ugh, I really hate this part because he has no idea why he's there, only that someone caused him pain. The last time we did this I stayed in the exam room and held him while he cried--I hate this part but it needs to be done.