6/24-6/30
quinn is such an amazing little person. he is so much fun to have conversations with. he is experimenting lately with his whole range of volume, testing out screeches and squeals on one end of the spectrum, and practicing whispering at the other end. at least i think he’s whispering- mostly it sounds like air passing through spit bubbles, but whenever he does it and i whisper back to him, he smiles as if to say, “yeah, you got it, mom!”
with his hands, quinnn is now a master of grabbing and has taken to actually feeling things- he likes to feel our faces, clothes, etc. he checks out the texture of things with a motion of his hands that looks like scratching. it is so cool to see him exploring his senses.
he is now aware that toys, when they fall, do not simply disappear into the abyss, and he therefore will reach and stretch more and more to try to go after them. when he arches his back doing this, i can see that the next step of rolling over onto his tummy is not far off.
as far as eating and sleeping habits go, i think quinn is in a period of transition. some of his naps are lengthening and the frequency is somewhat decreasing on some days. he’s experimenting with falling asleep without a walk, either as i feed him or hold him on my lap while he uses his binky. coinciding with the nap transition is a bit of experimenting with feedings; also lower in frequency, though he is making up for it by eating twice as much per feeding. he still seems set on growing so fast!
7/1-7/7
quinn is in a growth spurt… i’ve heard 4 months is a big time for that, but then i’ve heard it about 2 weeks, 6 weeks, 2 months, 3 months… ha! and really, what part of quinn’s life so far has been anything OTHER than a growth spurt? 🙂
quinn is officially rolling over now. he goes from tummy to back, often on accident. now he also goes from back to tummy, at least once a day it seems. usually it is while he is in the baby caveman TM or on a quilt on the floor, reaching for a toy he dropped.
we spent the day with steve, dena and bodhi on the 4th of july, and had a cookout, went to the park to play horseshoes, and watched fireworks from their backyard. bodhi and quinn missed the fireworks. quinn was very adaptable to having his whole routine moved to someone else’s house for the day. he took his naps on their guest bed and enjoyed watching people’s food go into their mouths, and reaching out to grab their faces.
7/8-7/14
we spent sunday out in the gorge, with S&D&B again. steve and dada hiked/waded up oneonta gorge and dena, bodhi, quinn and i played by the stream lower down. bodhi put rocks in quinn’s yogurt cup while quinn squirmed on the blanket. the two boys are actually the same size- we stood them up side by side. (bodhi=13 months!)
this week was very hot- quinn likes playing with a cold wet washcloth in the evening (hottest part of the day). he is discovering new things like 1) his feet and 2) how much fun it is to grab papers.
he is also going through a time of trying to fight sleep for some of his daytime naps- crying for a minute, then saying “uhhh…uhhh…uhhh…” to put himself to sleep. he tubs his eyes with his fists now when he is tired (he used to just rub his face on my shirt). he is sucking different combinations of fingers, but hasn’t settled on a favorite yet. (he is not using his binky so much anymore.) sleep at night, however, has been very easy, in fact he has put himself to bed early (before 8 ) several times this week and slept till morning (7:30-8:00) with just a large bedtime feeding and one or two feedings during the night.
7/15-7/21
we spent sunday at the oregon country fair. it was a warm day, and we were exhausted from the car ride and carrying baby gear and food and quinn all day, but it was a great fair. there were people on stilts, parades, live music everywhere you turned, lots of food to smell and cool stuff to look at.
one of my favorite moments with quinn so far happened on monday night. i had the hiccups and i was going to lay down and nurse quinn to sleep for the night but as soon as he latched on i hiccuped. he unlatched, looked up at me and laughed more than i have ever heard him laugh before. he got me laughing, too, and since i still had the hiccups it happened a few more times before we settled down. i wasn’t sure if it was just plain funny or if he was identifying with me- hey, i get those all the time! either way, i’ll never forget laughing together.
on tuesday val came by in the morning and she held quinn while i did some computer work for her for the festival. quinn likes val a lot, and he is in a very smiley stage. dena and bodhi came over in the afternoon for a walk, and we went to quiznos so dena could have lunch. bodhi pushed stools around the restaurant- we had the whole place to ourselves.
the only other event was on saturday, when we went to dada’s hammer and hand company picnic. quinn was of course very popular there. dada’s boss sam and his wife emily held quinn, and it turns out not only was their son born at home, but emily went to the Farm to witness her nephew’s birth and met both pamela and ina may 13 years ago. (for those of you who don’t know, i am an ina may gaskin fanatic- she is “the nation’s leading midwife” and writes about natural childbirth and breastfeeding and i’ve read all 3 of her books.) quinn did well at the picnic (he is always so adaptable) and took a nap or two in the sling. he didn’t want to eat much, probably because he was distracted, but was content sucking his thumb for the last hour before we went home. elsewhere in the world that day, everyone i know was receiving their pre-ordered copies of harry potter and the deathly hallows. money is tight, but hopefully a copy will be loaned to me soon!
7/22-7/23 5 MONTHS!
quinn chose his 5 month birthday to roll over over over! he was playing on his back in the caveman, flipped to his belly, then after a brief pause went on again to his back (he has been reluctant to do this direction lately, i think because he bumped his head once, but he has so much more control now) then quickly went to his tummy again. he ended up right on the hearth of the fireplace, in reach of the first few inches of ash left over from last winter’s fires. time to start seriously thinking about babyproofing!
quinn is so much fun at this age (what age hasn’t been fun though?) he is full of smiles. when i come around the jeep to retrieve him from the backseat after a trip to the store, i am usually in lala land and since the windows are tinted, quinn sees me before i see him. when i open the door, quinn has a big grin on his face- it is so nice to have someone in my life who is always SO HAPPY to see me!
other new things… quinn is interested in paper (grabbing it feels cool and makes an interesting sound) and plastic grocery bags, although he never gets to play with those. another new trick he has learned is how to rest when he is on his belly. for a long time he would kick and “swim” on his belly and get more and more tired until he couldn’t take it anymore, then squeal for me to come help him back to his back for a rest.
quinn was a champ on sunday when we went berry picking on sauvie island. oregon has amazing berries. we got about 15 pounds of boysenberries and marionberries and then i made jam on quinn’s birthday. he’ll be able to eat some of it next spring!
Leave a Reply