Reflecting on the first five months

At 3:45 PM on 2/23, Connor will officially be five months old. Looking at him now, I can still see the (relatively) tiny newborn who peed on the first nurse to try to take him to get cleaned up. But he's already come such a long way from there that it's tough to believe it's the same baby.

Connor was 8 lbs 13 oz at birth. He lost 5 oz in the hospital, but was back at his birth weight in barely more than two weeks. Now he's closing in on 18 lbs.

At birth, Connor was 21 inches long. He's over 25 and a half now and seems to grow a little more every day.

When fresh from the womb, Connor was barely aware of his surroundings. He reacted to stimuli, but didn't make connections between cause and effect. Now when he comes into a room, he's alert and looking around, trying to absorb everything about his surroundings. I'm pretty sure he even recognizes his reflection as being somehow related to him, though it's difficult to tell when it comes to abstract notions like that.

The Spud has also made vast strides in physical development. He was trying to raise his head up from the day he was born, but now it's steady. He can sit up for a minute or so at a time without help and has been figuring out how to prop himself up with his hands. He's not crawling, but he's already learned to love standing up and can support his own weight for about ten minutes at a time, only needing help with balance. He can even roll over a bit: mostly from belly to back, but he went back to belly in the bath tub tonight, much to Leigh's and my delight.

His first two teeth will be showing up any day now, I'm sure.

The biggest change, though, is personality. It's still pretty amorphous, but there's a definite person developing inside of my son. He's curious and social and I think he's even starting to develop a bit of an independent streak. He just seems very happy when he's not in pain from gas or teething, or cranky from lack of sleep. And I can't wait to see how he continues to grow over time.