Merrick at 5 Months

Merrick is five months old! He is growing and the drool is still flowing! We haven’t seen any teeth yet, but his bottom gum is swollen and it seems like they could be coming in soon. He hasn’t been measured recently, but he must be getting longer because he has outgrown some 3-month clothes and is even starting to get in to some 6 to 9 month sizes. His hair is also filling in a bit more. It seems pretty light, but there are times when it almost seems to have a reddish hue.

Merrick is grabbing at things more and more and pulling them to his mouth. Toys, books, his bib, his own feet, blankets, mama’s and sisters’ hair, pretty much anything within reach...We have warned Karamea and Kaylee about this, but they have still had their hair pulled a few times. I’m sure it won’t be the last time that happens! His favorite toys right now are his Johnny-Jump-Up and a set of plastic fish on a ring. He also loves putting his feet on the bar of his bouncy seat.

His squeals and giggles continue and are turning into babble with simple syllables: ba, blah, ma, na, uh-bah, and others. Merrick enjoys holding conversations with anyone familiar who will listen to him. When he recently met some new people, he started getting a little upset when they held him, so I think he’s entering into the phase of feeling unsure about strangers.

He started sleeping through the night for a little while, and then stopped a few weeks ago. We have had a couple of weeks of waking up around 3 a.m., but I’m hoping it is a short-lived phase. His naps have also been pretty abbreviated lately, sometimes as short as 30 minutes, which could be a factor of being in the cabin with a lot of activity and background noise going on. Hopefully he’ll settle back in to a better schedule once we get settled back into our school year routine next month.