Clara At 5 Months

Weight: 18.5 lbs (unofficially)

Length:  26.5" (unofficially)

What she can do: She can sit up by herself (in a momentary, wobbly kind of way, not for real), roll both directions, sit in a high chair, hold toys and rattle them around or chew on them, eat from a spoon (I'm assuming a certain percentage of her food must get down her throat...right?), turn in the direction of a sound, and track her eyes side-to-side and up-and-down (supposedly the latter is an advanced skill.  Go Clara! :).  She is exploring everything more all the time.  Today I held her in my lap as a ate an omelet.  She watched me scoop up a bite, then craned her neck to follow its path all the way up and behind her to my mouth.  She was riveted, watching bite after bite, perhaps making connections about eating or at least the spacial concept that moving objects don't just disappear, they go somewhere.

What she likes:  Laughing, smiling, being talked to, socializing.  She likes to laugh at my antics: silly faces, invading her person space, funny voices, saying "you're beautiful" twenty times per day.  She laughs the hardest when I lay my head on her stomach/diaphragm area.  She also likes laughing at her dad's antics: singing silly songs "jump, jump, jump around", holding her upside down, zooming her through the air, flinging her over his head (typical dad stuff), saying "Burp it out," "Stop being a bear, Clara Bear," "It's OK" (there's a certain intonation that goes with this one), and "Are you just going to cry like a baby?" She likes holding her toes, especially during diaper changes, which isn't as helpful as it sounds.  She likes Veggie Tales songs, rattles, the cheesy, electronic-sounding music that comes pre-recorded in baby stuff, kicking around in her bath water and getting me all wet, kicking stuff in general, making slobber noises with her lips and tongue, taking loud breaths of air, and sitting in her big-girl stroller.


This is Clara making her spit noises. This morning I was holding her, smiling down at her and admiring how sweet she is when she gave me a beautiful smile in return, stuck her tongue out, and blew as hard as she could, spraying me in the face with slobber.

Sleep:  Inconsistent.  One night she sleeps no more than three hours in a row.  The next night, she sleeps 9 hours straight.  The next night six hours, then two smaller chunks of sleep.  After turning four months she made a huge digression in her sleeping, and we're still not quite back to our former glory.

Other information: We've abandoned headbands in favor of clip-in bows.  Clara's mobility allows her to get herself into too much trouble with headbands, specifically by pulling them down over her eyes or mouth.  She doesn't like it one bit, and doesn't yet know how to escape this particular predicament.  Also, she won't take a bottle, so she and I haven't been apart for more than three hours since she was six weeks old.  She has super-kissable cheeks.  I take advantage of my opportunities to kiss them every time I pick her up.  She thinks it's funny.  So cute.

Five Month Photos (by Mom)