Locke: 5 Months Old

Today Locke is 5 months old!  Although our lives have been busy, we are continually amazed at how Locke changes and grows every day.  Here are the highlights:

• Locke is wearing 6 month clothes.  Anything that says 3-6 months is stretched pretty tight on our chubby baby.
• After 2 weeks of consistent blow-outs, we've upgraded to size 3 diapers.
• Locke has this big, open-mouthed smile that makes you melt if he bestows it on you.  He especially lights up when his Mommy comes in the room -- because that means he's going to get fed. :)
• We started child care with Grandma Jamie at the beginning of August.  We want things to go smoothly for everyone, and we are still figuring things out.  
• When Locke is hungry or tired, he SCREAMS.  This baby can go from zero to very mad at the blink of an eye, which makes it hard to predict his needs.
• He continues to be a very good nurser, but he has been reluctant to take a bottle.  Over the last month, we have tried three different types of bottles and we have finally struck gold with the Lansinoh Mommo bottle and milk that has been heated to hot.  Thankfully, grandma Jamie is very patient with him and keeps trying and trying every day.  Just this week, he has started taking his afternoon bottle like a champ.  Let's hope this continues.
• Because of the inconsistency of feeding at child care, Locke has started "reverse cycling" and instead of sleeping through the night like he did for his first 4 months, he is now waking up every few hours to feed.  Even though he always goes right back to sleep afterwards, Mommy is having trouble adjusting to the lack of continuous sleep.
• Locke LOVES chewing on his toes and holding onto his feet.
• Actually, Locke loves chewing on everything.  He sucks on blankets, hands, fingers, toys, and whatever he can get his little drooly mouth on.  Everyone thinks that he will be cutting teeth any time.
• Locke doesn't have his congested chest sounds anymore.  It just disappeared.  I'm hoping he grew out of it.
• Locke is now a self-supported sitter!  Sorta.  He can sit up on his own, but after a few minutes, he will find his way back onto his belly.
• Locke loves his big brother and is constantly carefully watching what he is doing.  Sometimes it even seems like he is trying to mimic what Ledger is doing.  It's pretty adorable.
• Locke is vocalizing more and more.  He blows raspberries and makes all sorts of adorable cooing sounds.
• He is finally interested in toys.  He especially likes his baby Einstein music player and a vibrating butterfly teether toy.  He spends time in his bouncy chair at home and at Jamie's house and he is getting to be a pro at turning himself around in the seat to play with different toys and watch what is going on around him.

As you can see, he's been a busy boy!  We love our little chunky monkey and he brings so much happiness into our family.