Moe Meets a Very Special Lady

Moe worked his magic on a very special lady earlier this week. I was so happy he had the opportunity to meet her.

As you can tell, he was especially charming!

Dear Moe (Five Months)

 Hello, darling. On July 20, you’ll be five months old. It’s hard to believe. You are so much bigger, it seems, than I expect you to be when I pick you up. You’re turning into a real little boy instead of a little baby. We did a massive clothes cull because you had outgrown so many of your things, and we’re going to have to do another one soon because you’re starting to outgrown your “mainstay” onesies.

You still love the water - you enjoy swimming at Uncle Ted’s and you are now able to lie unsupported in your bathtub. You like to kick your little feet in the bath and make the water splash, and you look at yourself in the mirror while you do it. I set up your kiddie pool on the back deck last week, but since we don’t have a hose yet, I had to fill it using the two gallon water cooler jug. It took many trips to even get an inch of water in the bottom, and you weren’t impressed at all. We’re working on getting a hose this week.

We now read story books and look at the pictures together. We sing songs every day. We sing Round the Garden, Summertime, Rainbow Connection, and our bedtime song, You. Sometimes we sing any song Mommy can think of the words to! We listen to music, too. We listen to everything from Muppet Beach Party to Johnny Cash to The Ramones. You really enjoy your exersaucer, and have graduated to standing on a thinner book. We sometimes call it your Poopersaucer because it never fails to get you to poop if you need to. There have been a few times where the Poopersaucer has been out of commission due to an emergency laundry run. You enjoy playing with the fishy in the ball, and are getting better at pressing the music buttons. You like playing with Cinquo the plush dog and Sophie the Giraffe. You chew on Sophie’s legs and ears, and you chat with Cinquo. You still love Kneebra, and like resting your arm on his head when we travel in the car. You love being lifted into the air - it’s a guaranteed smile. And we recently discovered dancing! You love dancing with me - you smile and laugh and it makes me laugh and so we dance and laugh together. It’s wonderful.

You are starting to really rock your tummy time, and can go for 10 to 15 minutes sometimes. I’m excited about going to the followup appointment at CHEO in August to see what kind of progress you have made. You’re much better at looking to both sides now, and even look out the window in the car!

We’ve been kicked out of the well baby clinic, darling, as you’re over three months. But lucky for us, some of the people we’ve met there have started a weekly playgroup at someone’s house! So every Tuesday morning we head to Shannon’s house, which is only a few blocks away, and you get to hang out with Elianne, Alex, Mila, Emily and Kevin! And Mommy gets to chat with their mommies, which is great, too.

We went to meet Kerrie and Amelia at the OEY playgroup one Monday afternoon, and their scale said you were well on your way to being 17lbs. You have the most deliciously chunky thighs. You still have eczema, which seems to get worse if your tummy is bothering you. I ordered some special shampoo and soap online, and I’m hoping it will help. The heatwave we’ve been having hasn’t helped your skin, either. Your feet are usually sweaty! We’ve been working to beat the heat by staying inside in the afternoon, and sometimes hitting the pool. The only fan in the house is in your room (lucky little man!) and we have a few “tank onesies” that have come in handy in the hot weather.

There’s no doubt about it - you’ve discovered the magic box. I keep the TV off during the day (except to occasionally check the weather), but in the evening it tends to be on, and you like to watch it. Sometimes you’ll even stare at it if it’s off, as if you are saying, “Hey, make that thing go!” (You seem especially delighted by Alyson Hannigan’s face, for some reason. Yes, we watch Buffy.)

Let’s talk about sleep. Oh, yes, sleep. You’re doing much better than you were - you go down for naps much easier, assuming we don’t let you get too tired. You do pretty well at night, too, but haven’t been doing those precious longer stretches for the last little while. I think that giving you a big bottle around 8pm will help - we did that last night and it worked well. You fight sleep so hard, sweetie, that it’s almost tragic to watch. You keep trying to move your legs or your arms or even your head in an effort to stay awake. But you’re getting better and better.

We’ve started the rice cereal adventure! I don’t know how much of it actually goes into your tummy, but we try every day or so to put some in your mouth. I’m sure you’ll get the hang of it soon. I made it recently using my breast milk and a slightly different ratio to make it a bit less liquid, and it went well. We’ll keep it up and you’ll figure it out!

You’ve really expanded your range of sounds. You grunt, you yelp, you squeal, you giggle and you babble along so well. You can be a real chatty little guy, except when I ask you to be chatty for someone on the phone. Then you clam right up!

We bought you a Jolly Jumper with a stand to put in the living room, as the hand-me-down we received only goes over a door frame and those are few and far between in this house. Getting you in and out of that harness is currently a two person job, but maybe Mommy will get the hang of it, soon. You sure enjoy bouncing up and down, but aren’t impressed when you end up turned away from the crowd.

Overall, darling, you are a sunny wonderful little guy. You greet people with a smile, you don’t cry without a good reason, you are fun to be around, and you make us laugh all the time. Please keep being so wonderful. We love you so much and treasure every moment with you. You bring such joy to our life.

With Granny on the Stoop

 Here's how we spend mornings on hot days before it gets too hot.