Housekeeping at Five Months

Dear Milo:
Yesterday you officially turned 5 months old. In honor of your birthday I'm going to dispense with the mushy stuff and just get right into what you like and dislike.

These days your likes far outnumber your dislikes. Even your irrational fear of hats seems to have subsided to a vague distrust, and I can see that easing into tolerance in the next month or so. Until recently the thing you loved above all else was bananas. That was until today, when you encountered sweet potatoes, and now there's really no question where your preferences lie.

You still love standing and flying, but now you also love being hung upside down for brief periods of time. You smile all the time, constantly, at everyone you meet, which sometimes makes me wonder if you're really my child. On the other hand, you also have a slight obsessive streak when it comes to the flag on your exersaucer. You see it and you need to bite it, immediately. Then you need to give it a long talking to. You love the flag fiercely and almost maniacally until you can't stand it any more and you suddenly hate it and need it to go away. Then in the morning, you're always happy to see it again. This makes me realize that you are in fact my child, and that we can look forward to long talks about how best to channel all that obsessive energy.

You started saying syllables a few days ago, thank God, because Mommy was starting to get a little worried what with all the vague screeching and guttural vowel sounds that pour forth from your little body like a faucet. You also started opening and shutting your mouth in a very exaggerated fashion and saying "rah rah rah rah". After a few hours of this it dawned on me that you were maybe imitating what people look like when they talk, at which point I fell in love with you all over again the way I first did when I witnessed your love of bananas.

Other things you love: your feet, which you grab whenever possible; the cat, which you try to grab whenever possible; you seem to love your toys indiscriminatly, so long as they can either be smashed or inserted into your mouth. You love funny faces, and you also seem to be experimenting with doing weird things with your tongue, which sometimes makes you look a little like a chimpanzee. Baths are still the best.

You don't have things you hate so much as things you are lukewarm about: applesauce, your stroller, tummy time, discovering that no one is paying attention to you.

You are still changing at a ridiculous pace. Today you went down for a nap with brown hair and woke up with dark blonde streaks and new tufts sticking out at funny angles. Yesterday you would begin chewing before the food was actually in your mouth. Today you figured out how to time it right so chewing and food in the mouth happen simultaneously. You're still a lot of fun. Keep sleeping through the night and we're going to get along just fine.

Love,
Mommy