Dear Sadie,
You are now five months old and I think this is my favorite stage so far. You love to play and are full of smiles. You smile at your dad and I, you smile at friends, you smile at strangers, you smile at the dog and the cat, you smile at the vacuum cleaner. I love seeing you wake up from a nap, focus your sleepy eyes on me and break into a huge grin. Sometimes we walk around the house so you can smile at yourself in all of the different mirrors. When you are really excited, you open your mouth wide and wave you arms and legs around as if you want to swim over to whatever the object of desire is and eat it.
You love your toys and will play with a single toy for longer durations. Mostly the goal is to get the toy in your mouth where you bite it aggressively. Your hands are reaching accurately and grasping things much better. You can transfer a toy from one hand to the other. You also like to grab for whatever I might be holding, or whatever is in reach of your little arms. Glasses and soda cans hold particular fascination. You also like to grab hair, ears, noses, and sensitive skin like on the underside of my arm or my neck. Although sometimes your grip can be painful, we love it that you reach out to grab us with your sweet little hands. However, it will be some time before I can wear earrings again.
You are also getting the hang of bouncing in your jumper. I can put you in your jumper in the doorway to the kitchen and you'll bounce contentedly while I cook or wash dishes. You have mastered jumping while biting your toys and making a racket like a good little multi-tasker. I wish they made adult sized Johnny Jumpers because I would totally get one.
You seem like you are on the verge of rolling from back to front but you haven't quite flipped over yet. Rolling from front to back is still very sporadic. We practice sitting up unassisted which you can hold for as long as 20 seconds sometimes.
You are very interested in the pets. We keep Larry away from your strong little fingers, but you are allowed to pet Tom Fudge when supervised closely. He doesn't seem to mind when you grab his ears or a tight fist full of fur, but then this is a cat who rubs his face on cacti.
March was a busy month for you. We had a lot of visitors. Both sets of grandparents came out as well as your Auntie Megan. She couldn't resist buying you some cute pink outfits and a bow for your hair when we were out shopping. And it warms the heart to see how happy you make your grandparents. All you have to do is exist, I suppose, but it helps that you are such a cute and sweet baby.
You no longer need to be held and bounced on the green ball to calm you down. And we haven't had to turn on the vacuum cleaner track in weeks. As long as you get to eat when you are hungry and sleep when you are sleepy, you are a happy baby. I am going to revise the Sadie likes and dislikes on the sidebar to reflect your changing temperament. It is such a treat to hear you laugh. You think your daddy is pretty funny, but I can get you to chuckle sometimes too.
We love you little Junebug. It is a lot of fun having a sweet baby to play with.
Kisses,
Mama
