So, Lydia’s 5 month birthday was ten days ago.  I’m a little behind with things, but Happy Birthday all the same, Baby Girl!

Rolling over has been the big thing for Lydia this past month.  Once she started rolling, she hasn’t looked back.  When I put her down, the instant her back touches the floor, she gives her leg a kick and over she goes onto her stomach.  Unfortunately she gets pretty frustrated once she gets that far.  She wants so badly to be moving forward, but all she can do at this point is turn in a circle on her tummy and occasionally push herself backwards.  Such a bummer to see things just out of reach and not be able to get them into your mouth!

And she does love putting things in her mouth.  If she can get it in her grasp, it goes into her mouth.  She’s surprisingly fast at it and gets quite upset when you take away something that she wants to eat… like a 5 months sign for example…

We did start solid foods this month, but because she can be so gassy, we’ve sort of started and stopped several times, trying to see if the solids are upsetting her stomach.  However, she’s always up for it when she gets a chance to eat pearsauce.  And if there isn’t pearsauce to be had, she’s also delighted to drink from Mommy’s water glass.  Her whole body shakes in excitement as the glass comes near her mouth.  It’s so funny!

Besides rolling over and chewing on things, this month has included a lot of playing outside, being amused by her big sister, watching Mommy clean the house, and sleeping (as usual) though now in a crib instead of the bassinet.  Lydia continues to be fairly laid back.  She smiles at everyone, but it takes a little more effort to make her laugh.  We’ve noticed that she startles easily.  I’m beginning to think that she is going to be a very analytical person.  She seems to get very focused on things, so much so that when something “new” suddenly happens, it takes her by surprise.

We’re not sure exactly how fast her next milestones are going to come up, but sitting up unsupported is definitely in the near future and I don’t think crawling will be too far behind that, given how much effort she’s making at the moment to get moving.

Whatever happens though, we can’t get enough of our sweet, happy girl and hope she doesn’t grow up too fast, because we are enjoying her just as she is right now.

This weekend was Lydia’s introduction to the world of solid foods.  Here’s how it went…

Day #1 – Saturday:

First Bite!

She wasn't a big fan...

Several bites later, her opinion of pearsauce hadn't improved much

After a couple of teaspoons, we gave up torturing her, and figured we’d try again another day.

Day #2 – Sunday:

Same kid, same food... a whole new attitude

Yes, that's Lydia trying to shove the spoon into her mouth

Mmmm... Pearsauce is good!

After a couple of tablespoons, we finally had cut her off.  The way she was going, she would have quickly finished off the whole container without a problem.

More please!

I know I wrote in Lydia’s 4 month update that she didn’t seem to be trying to roll over yet.  Then Sunday, while I was taking her 4 month pictures to put in the post, she rolled from her tummy to her back for the first time.  And the thing about it was that it was so slow and controlled, she made it look like she’d been rolling over for a long time.

And then to top it off, on Tuesday she rolled from her back to her tummy… and then she did it again and again and again!

So, I guess she was just waiting until she was sure she could do it.  Or maybe analyzing the situation, studying the data, making a pro/con list…

Who knows.

In any case, it’s official now, Lydia is on the move!

Lydia turned four months old on the 5th of this month.  Even though it’s a little late… Happy Birthday, Darling!

Wow, I can’t believe how quickly this last month has gone by and how much Lydia has changed and grown.  We went in for Lydia’s four month check-up last week and her current stats are: Height – 23.75 inches, Weight – 17 lbs 9 oz, Head Circumference – 42.25 cm.  That means Lydia only in the 29th percentile for height, but is in the 98th for weight and 80th for head circumference.  No wonder everyone always tells me she looks ‘healthy’, those chubby cheeks make it very clear she’s not underfed!

She continues to be her adorably happy and easy-going self.  It always take me aback just a bit when she cries, since it is such a rare occurrence.  Lately, she’s even quit crying when she wakes up in the morning and from naps.  Instead I just hear her cooing away and know she’s awake and ready to get up.  About the only thing that really makes her upset is when someone else steals the spotlight during one of her photo shoots…

As far as physical milestones go, she doesn’t seem to be in a huge hurry to get moving.  She does roll up onto her side fairly frequently, but as long as there is a toy in reach or something interesting to look at, she’s content to just stay in one place and amuse herself.  She does like to sit up, whether in someone’s lap or on the floor and if she uses her hands to help she can sit up by herself for about 15 seconds or so, at which point she’ll see something she wants to grab and then promptly tip over.

Although rolling over doesn’t seem to be something she’s striving for, Lydia is working on perfecting her fine motor skills.  She’s getting quite good at grabbing for and holding on to her toys (and other objects!)  Naturally, whenever she gets a hold of something, it always goes straight into her mouth.

Lydia’s current “favorites” are: smiling, eating, sleeping, having her diaper changed, being naked, taking baths, Mommy, Daddy and Alethea.  There aren’t many things that seem to bother her, but the top two would probably be, being fed out of a bottle and having Mommy walk out of the room after having been put in bed for the night.  (Sometimes though if I walk back over to her bassinet, she’ll start telling me this long story with lots of ah’s and oh’s in it.  When she’s done I’ll say, “That’s very nice, honey.  Thanks for telling me that.  Now you need to go to sleep.”  And she’ll say one more, “Ooooh!” and then close her little eyes and head off for dreamland.  It’s like she has something super important she just has to tell me before she can relax and go to sleep.  So cute!)

We just love our sweet little Lydia and are so excited to see her continue to grow and develop.  On this month’s schedule: learn to roll over and try solid foods!  Should be an thrilling month of May!