The Lang Family: Reed is Five Months Old!

September 11, 2011 - Of course, today is a day of sadness and remembrance for our entire nation, and our family is no exception. As we ate dinner tonight, we watched one of the many television specials about 9/11 and we speculated about what would be the life-changing national and/or international events to affect Reed and his generation. But for us, today was also a day for celebrating the continued growth and new milestones of our sweet Reed Alexander, who is now five months old! It's been a HUGE month for our boy. Here are the things we want to remember about Reed at five months:

He's still a big boy, but maybe not as big as previous months. At nearly 18 pounds and 26 1/2 inches long, he is in the 72th percentile for weight and 67th percentile for height (according to an online children's growth percentile calculator).
I'm slightly questioning the accuracy of said calculator, as he wears mostly 9 month clothes, with a few six month and 12 month sizes thrown in for good measure. Plus, everyone who sees him comments on what a big boy he is!
It took a couple of weeks, but we finally weaned Reed completely from the swaddle blanket this month. We started with one arm out, then both arms, then his legs (with just his middle wrapped), and now he sleeps in a sleep sack at night, just for the extra warmth.
Reed started daycare this month and has transitioned beautifully! His daycare providers love him, as do the other kids (especially a 4-year-old named Nate who always greets me with "Hi Reed's Mom!"). He's always in a good mood when I pick him up and it's clear that he's getting great stimulation during the day, as he's exhausted by the time we put him down at night.
Speaking of sleep, Reed goes down around 7:30/7:45 p.m. and usually wakes up around 6:30 a.m. He'll often wake up around 5 or 5:30 a.m. wanting his pacifier, but will usually go back down for another hour or hour and a half. We've also had a few nights when he's woken up around 3 or 4 wanting the paci, but he usually either puts himself back to sleep, or falls back asleep once we give him the pacifier.
His naps have definitely gotten a lot shorter. He still naps three times a day, but they are usually shorter, ranging from 45 minutes to an hour and a half. Sometimes daycare will get him to sleep for 2 hours at a stretch, but that's not the norm. While we love hanging out with our fella, Jeff and I kind of miss the long naps he used to take! It was time we could count on to get things done around the house or just take a breather.
Once I started back at work, we changed Reed's feeding routine a little bit so that I could nurse Reed twice a day. Jeff still gives Reed the morning bottle on weekends, but on weekdays I nurse him in the morning before he goes to daycare. He then takes three 6 1/2 - 6 3/4 oz. bottles at daycare, and then nurses again before bedtime.
While he's often more pensive and solemn among strangers, Reed loves to smile and laugh with Jeff and me. He particularly loves it when Jeff tickes him, when I "eat" his hands and feet, and when Jeff and I dance for him.
He now loves touching our faces and also likes it when we bring our faces in close to his. I often get the big open-mouth kisses, even though I don't think they're intentional on his end!
While we can't feel any teeth yet, Reed's drooling has intensified, so we think that teething could be starting soon.
After two weeks at daycare, Reed caught his first cold. No fever or cough, or even fussiness, just a stuffy nose for about a week and a half. We did take him to the doctor because of this weird wheezing sound he was making, but the doctor said his lungs checked out perfectly. She said he probably started making the sound due to congestion, but then continued because it felt funny. Isn't that lovely? Five months old and he's already trying to fake his mother out!
August 19 was a big day. He found his feet AND started blowing raspberries!
He loves putting anything and everything into his mouth.
Last week Reed showed the first signs of being interested in solid food. The day before Labor Day, he reached for my glass and wanted to put his mouth on it, and two days later he tried to eat my english muffin.
He has now outgrown his infant carseat and this weekend we installed the convertible one. Two days in and we're mourning the loss of being able to let him sleep in the carseat while we carried it around, but he just got too heavy for me to carry, plus his shoulders didn't fit in the straps anymore.
Reed LOVES to stand up and is great at putting his full weight down.
He can sit unsupported for short periods of time.
The big one, of course, is that he can now roll over! On September 7, he rolled once, back to tummy, and the next day he did it again and again. Now we just need him to master rolling tummy to back so that he doesn't continue to freak himself out when he winds up on his tummy in his crib at night.