5 months! (a bit belatedly)

Steven was 5 months old on September 10. I kept meaning to post an update and some new pictures, but time got away from me!

We've been doing solid food for almost 3 weeks now and so far we've tried carrots, rice cereal, green beans, bananas, peas, and peaches. He seemed to like everything, but the bananas were by far the biggest hit. The first time I mashed some up for him he gobbled them up and then cried until I mashed up some more! Next thing we're going to try is sweet potatoes. If he's anything like his Mommy he should love those, too. I ate so many when I was a baby that my skin turned orange!

He's also made quite a bit of physical developmental progress in the last month. He's now rolling all over the place, front to back and back to front, whereas a month ago he would just roll over sporadically and almost seemingly accidentally. It may have been due to happen anyway, but the doctor recommended that we do more tummy time so he would be more comfortable on his tummy and therefore not mind rolling onto it. Now he's happy on his tummy...

(Sorry, I have a hard time picking just one!)

He also can sit up on his own now, and real sitting, not just gorilla sitting. It started the day after we got him the exersaucer--it really helps those abs! Only about 5-10 seconds at a time at first, but within a few days he was really good and now he can sit for quite a while before he gets tired and falls over. Most of the time, though, he gets upset because he doesn't want to sit, he wants to stand! His favorite activity is holding onto our fingers and standing/dancing (he loves to move the whole time), and he can do this for as long as we're willing to hold onto him. He doesn't need us to hold him up, he just needs us for balance. He's very strong!!

This is his usual pose--3 fingers upside down in his mouth. He sucks his thumb, too, but more often when he's tired.

Other firsts include his first time with a non-family-member babysitter. My bell choir rehearsals are Thursday evenings, and last week Mike had to work late so our next door neighbor Claire (who watches Knute while we're gone on vacations) came over to watch Steve for an hour or so. She'll also be coming by next week when Mike is on call. He'll probably be home, but this way if he needs to leave or if he gets sidetracked by a bunch of pages he won't have to worry about Steven. Steven also spent his first couple of times in the nursery at church, during the service last Sunday and then again on Tuesday morning when I went to Bible study. I'm not sure how the Tuesday mornings are going to go in coming weeks, because it's for 2 hours and nap time usually falls during that time (he happened to have napped earlier this Tuesday). There is no way he'll be able to sleep in the nursery with all of the other kids around, so we'll have to see!