Frank posted that compilation of videos from May which reminded me that I hadn’t put up photos from that month.  As I looked, I realized that even though I did the mass update at the end of April / beginning of May, I hadn’t actually put the remaining April photos up either.  So here’s a combined slide show.  

Nico turned 4 months old in April and 5 months old in May.  Does it make me a bad mom to be combining 2/5 of his entire life into one slide show and bullet list?    Here are the highlights from the 2 months (It’s a long list and we figure the grandparents are the only ones who will read the whole thing!):

April

• He sat up unsupported for the first time at 16 1/2 weeks (April 3rd).  Frank sat him up — he didn’t sit himself up — but this was the first time he didn’t topple over.  You may have seen that video — it happened while my parents were in town for the Cherry Blossoms.
• Because he could suddenly sit up, we put together his high chair on Easter.  We expected to keep the high chair in its box until he turned a year old or so, figuring he wouldn’t be able to sit up.  But at 4 months he was arching out of the Bumbo seat and it turned out that he LOVED the high chair.  Actually, he loved it for a full 2 months.  We could put him in there any time we wanted to get anything done in the house.  (Now he’s on to us, though, and he’ll only hang out there while we eat.)
• He started rolling to his side to fall asleep during his naps.
• He had his 4-month visit with the doctor and weighed 16 pounds, 2 ounces.  He was 26 1/4 inches long.  He surprised the doctor by being able to sit up on his own.  (She didn’t believe me when I said he could, so she took him and sat him on the exam table and he stayed.)  He was due for vaccines at his 4 month visit, but Frank was home sick so she wanted to hold off and give them to him when everyone was healthy at home.  
• The doctor shocked me by telling me that he was exhibiting signs of readiness for solid food (sitting up, being interested in food, and maybe a couple of other indicators).  She wanted us to start giving him things like banana, avocado, sweet potato, squash, apple and pear between his 4 month and 6 month visit.
• I wasn’t ready to start him on solid food this early, but because we trust his doctor we gave him a couple of tastes.  You may have seen his introduction to banana in the videos Frank posted a few days ago.  We also gave him some apple in a little mesh bag.  He didn’t really like either.  (It’s gotten worse now — if we try to give him food he gags until he makes himself throw up.)
• I quit one of my 2 jobs and had my last day at work on April 16th.  He came to work with me at my second job for the first time on April 19th.  Of course, every time he came to the 1st job, he slept for 3 of the 4 hours I was there and was perfectly quiet and still the rest of the time.  My first day at the second job?  He found his voice and shrieked in delight for an hour straight — while I was on a conference call.  I’m pretty sure they all thought I was lying when I told them how mellow he had been at the other job.  Fortunately he’s still allowed to go back there.
• I got a job as a grant writer at another local nonprofit, which I can do entirely from home.  I kept the 2nd job, which I do for 10 hours a week — 6 from home and 4 from the office (with Nico).
• I started doing some volunteer work for my midwives, and of course Nico joins me there as well.  He has very little say in how he spends his days, when you think about it…
• He sucked his thumb for the 1st time in April.  (4/19)  He still prefers the pacifier, though — I don’t think the thumb is big enough to satisfy his need for sucking.
• When he was at my office playing on the floor, I looked over to see him grab his pacifier and pop it into his mouth, and then sit there playing and sucking away.  It was pretty cute.  It’s amazing that he can recognize the pacifier — no matter which one we use — and put it in his own mouth the right way.
• He started bringing his feet to his hands in April in classic happy baby pose.
• His first 2 teeth broke through on April 23rd — at 4 1/2 months.  He got the 2 middle bottoms ones first.  (He has since gotten the 2 next to them and his middle top teeth have been on the verge of breaking through for several weeks.)  He didn’t get fussy until the teeth broke through the surface.  Then he was less smiley and definitely visibly in pain for about a week while they kept pushing their way up into his mouth.  Hyland’s teething tablets help, as do Boiron chamomilla 30C tablets (crushed between 2 spoons first) and ice in his little mesh bag.

May

• I got to celebrate my very first Mother’s Day and it was great!  I got breakfast in bed, flowers from the yard, a trip to the Brookside Gardens (even though it suddenly decided to get cold!), and dinner out.
• He had an off-cycle doctor visit at 5 months for the vaccines he had missed in April.  He got his second round of DTaP and his first rounds of HIB and Polio.  She said she didn’t need to see him again until he turned 7 months now.
• He started getting ready to crawl.  I think one of the videos Frank posted was of him on the bed pushing over his feet to land on his tummy.  He tucks one foot, pushes off the other, briefly goes to one knee and then flops on his belly.  As the month progressed, he got better and better at getting himself into position and started doing a plank pose or a mini downward facing dog.  But he hasn’t figured out how to go forward yet — he just goes in reverse or rolls over.
• We went to my parents’ house in NJ and Frank’s parents came to visit as did Uncle Danny, Aunt Morgan, and Cousin Brady.  The boys had a great time together and the grandparents got their fill of the grandkids.  It was a nice weekend.
• He caught a cold and we had to bring him to the doctor for his second sick visit (the first was in the winter when he got RSV).  This time he acted much sicker than he did that time, and the doctor thought it was that his sinuses were putting pressure on those top teeth. When we started treating the teething pain with the homeopathics, he returned to his normal self right away.
• When he babbles, he consistently makes a “guh” sound.  By the end of the month he had added “kuh” “tuh” “fuh” and “puh.” 
• By the end of the month I couldn’t count on Nico being in the same place I had left him.  He spins, moves backward, and rolls and it’s always a game to find out where he’ll be when I come back.  We have installed outlet covers and know that our days of a non-child-proof home are numbered.

I’m still loving being home with him and feel extremely fortunate that I’ve been able to find jobs that are flexible — both in terms of when I get my work done and in terms of bringing Nico with me.  It’s amazing that I can find such joy in being home all day with a boy who can’t say a word to me.  But he makes me laugh all the time and we have a lot of fun at home, going for walks, and meeting up with friends.