The Frueh Family: 5 Months Old!

August 9th, 2009 .......................................................................................................................................January 9th, 2010

Incredibly, our little Molly is now 5 months old! You always hear parents say that they can't believe how fast their little ones grow, but I never really understood what they were talking about until I now have my own little one. I had the chance this past week to hold a friend's newborn little boy and I couldn't believe that it had been 5 whole months since Molly had been that tiny!

It's been so much fun to watch Molly's personality blossom in the last few months. She loves to explore the sights, sounds and textures in the world around her. We change the toys on the toy bar of her swing and bouncer and try to add new toys every few days. It's so much fun to watch her "get acquainted" with her new toys. This usually happens in one of three ways: If she's in a quiet mood, as she usually is in the morning or after a nap, then she'll hold the toy in her hand and rotate it slowly back and forth in front of her face, studying it from every angle. The length of her attention span amazes me. If she's in a rowdy mood, as she usually is in the evening or when we're approaching naptime, she'll flap her arms wildly like a bird and karate chop all the toys at once, making them all bang together. Anytime in between, she'll attempt to shove the entire toy in her mouth and slobber all over it! She's like a St. Bernard...she can soak a toy in a matter of seconds with her drool.

She was in the process of slobbering all over this toy when she got it stuck on her nose and couldn't figure out how to get it off. Poor kid! I felt a little bad laughing at her, but she looked so funny!

She has also become much more skilled at working all the bells and whistles on her exer-saucer (AKA - "The Escalade"). One night she became completely fixated on opening and closing this little orange lid (probably the least interesting item on "The Escalade"). She would amaze herself every time she opened it, like she'd just done something magical. Then when she closed it, she'd celebrate by blowing a huge raspberry, spraying everything in a 2-foot radius with slobber. Crazy girl!

Her new favorite toy is a plastic solo cup, which is much more interesting to her than any of her "real" toys :-) For a while now, Molly has been obsessed with watching people eat or drink, but especially drink. We've learned to be very careful with drinking hot tea or coffee around her because she immediately tries to grab the cup. We decided to give her her very own cup to play with and she couldn't be happier!

You can see a few of her other favorite "toys" in the background. She wasn't the least bit interested in the toys that came with her swing so we replaced them with an aluminum foil ball and an old disc. She LOVES them. She especially loves flipping the disc back and forth over and over again. The front is black and white (a baby favorite) and the back is so shiny.

Physically, Molly has hit a real growth spurt and is reaching many new milestones. She now weighs 14 lbs. and is 24.5 inches long. With her bulky cloth diapers, she's definitely filling out some 6-9 month clothes. I love her rolly legs! I had to laugh the other day when I tried to put on a pair of 3-6 month jammies and the legs would barely button. Every other aspect of fit was fine: length, inseam, shoulders, etc. But the leg buttons had all these gaps in between where her fleshy little thighs were peeking through. Time to clean out the dresser drawers, I suppose!

Molly has hit two major milestones in the last week. She has learned to roll herself over from belly to back, completely unassisted, and she has learned to sit up. Prior to this, she would only roll over with lots of coaching and encouragement from Mom and Dad. We would have to coax her with a toy or help her fold her arms under, but she is now rolling independently. It's not her favorite thing to do, but she'll give it a try if she desperately wants a toy out of her reach. When she's sitting up, Molly props herself up on her arms like a little tripod. Occasionally, she'll lift up one or both arms and balance herself for a little while before toppling over.

Now that she's sitting so well, we've graduated her from the snap-&-go infant stroller to her big-girl stroller where she can sit up and look at the world. We were blessed with a few beautiful 60-degree days in the last week and we took full advantage with walks through the neighborhood.