Ruby is now 5 months and 3 days (a little more than 22 weeks) old. This is what she is like:
- At her most recent doctor’s appointment (9 days ago) she weighed 14 lbs 1 oz, was 23.5 inches long, and her head was 40.5 cm around. She is short for her age, but her weight is average.
- Her hair is getting thicker on top. There are a few long hairs that stick out here and there, but mostly she’s got some dense, inch-long fur on top. The color is blond, with very golden highlights when the sun hits it. She still has a bald spot on the back of her head from lying down so much.
- Her eyes are bluish-gray, and appear to be heading towards green (or brown?). The outside of the iris is dark blue, and the insides are pale blue-green-grey.
- Her skin is clear, for the most part, although she now scratches herself on the face occasionally and gets the odd pimple. She has a few patches of mild eczema that flare up every now and then, and she has stork bites on the back of her head.
- Just a few days ago she started turning from back to stomach. She does this by kicking her legs up, flopping onto her side, and then rolling over from there. Once on her stomach, she’ll plant her hands and lift up her head and shoulders to take a look around. She’ll also suddenly collapse, throwing her arms backwards and planting her face into the ground. This doesn’t seem to make her very happy, but she’ll usually recover and lift her head up again. Depending on her mood, she’ll spend up to ten minutes on her stomach before getting frustrated and demanding rescue.
- She’s getting very accurate at reaching for toys. Occasionally she’ll wave her hands in a vague manner before she grabs something she’s interested in, but mostly she’ll grab it on the first try. She’ll occasionally reach for toys that are nearby inside of waiting for us to hold them in front of her.
- She enjoys shaking her toys to see if they rattle. Rattling toys then get shaken up and down, and she’ll occasionally whack herself in the head with them. Eventually, though, all objects Must Be Eaten.
- She’s very active at looking for things to keep her interest. When we’re holding her upright she’ll swing her head and shoulders back and forth, looking for something interesting. This also leads to her bonking her forehead into our faces a lot (it hurts us more than her).
- Sometimes when we put her on her back, she’ll lift up her head like she’s doing abdominal crunches. She seems to be preferring to spend less time on her back in general.
- She can now sit by herself in her high chair. This makes meals a lot easier for us, since she enjoys playing with toys that we put on the tray in front of her. Restaurant high chairs are a little big for her, but we use them anyway, maybe with an extra blanket thrown in behind her. They don’t come with trays full of toys, though, so they’re not as much fun.
- Ruby is still eating breast milk exclusively. We’re planning on starting her on table food some time in September.
- Ruby goes to sleep between 8pm and 9pm every night, and wakes up between 7am and 8am, with one early morning feeding between 4am and 5am.
- Ruby is slowly progressing towards fewer, larger meals and fewer, longer naps. A “typical” eating/sleeping schedule looks like this:
- 4:30am: early morning feeding from Kate, then right back to sleep.
- 7am: Kate wakes her up for her breakfast
- 9am: morning nap for 45 mins to 1 hour.
- 10am: first bottle, about 6oz
- 12pm: midday nap for 30 mins
- 1pm: second bottle, about 5oz
- 2pm: maybe another 30 minute nap
- 4pm: third bottle, about 3oz
- 4:30pm: afternoon nap for about 45 minutes.
- 5:30pm: Kate feeds her
- 7pm: sometimes Kate feeds her again, depending how early the previous meal was.
- 8:30pm: Kate feeds her and puts her to bed.
- I bring Ruby in to see her Mom at work three days each week, usually around 10:30 am.
- Ruby uses her soother whenever she’s upset and when she’s falling asleep. Although it is still attached to her clothing on a fairly constant basis, she’s been using it less lately.
- Her mood tends to start off bright and then end fussy. It’s a steady decline throughout the day, although she perks up after each nap. This decline isn’t much fun for Kate, as she comes home from work to be with Ruby when the baby is at her worst.
- Ruby has been a little less smiley lately. It used to be that mornings were guaranteed to be full of smiles, but now she’ll occasionally wake up in an apathetic mood.
- She’s pooping only every few days now. She set a record last week by going 6 days between poops. That seemed to bother her parents more than her.
- No teeth are in sight, but she’s still got all of the symptoms of teething. She’ll spend hours drooling, sucking, and chewing on her fingers or whatever else is handy. When she’s really teething hard, she’ll lunge at an object with her mouth and pull her whole body inwards towards her mouth.
- She loves naked time. She spends 30 minutes to an hour naked in the backyard every day, and spends the whole time holding her toes and looking at the trees.
- She hasn’t been doing much jogging for the past few weeks, since we had a heatwave that kept her Papa from venturing outdoors, and then he pulled his hamstring playing soccer.
- She loves to spend time walking around with her parents in her sling. Her Papa takes her to the grocery store and for walks around various parks.
- Kate and I still take her to restaurants without too much concern, although we now try to err towards noisier restaurants. The dinner hour is also her worst time of day, so Kate often spends a good portion of the meal standing and bouncing with the baby.
- She’ll laugh when she’s tickled. I’ll often lean over her and make a long, rising “aaaa…” sound while I slowly lean in. Then I’ll chew on her belly, and this will make her laugh. Or shriek. Sometimes she’ll start shrieking (not in a bad way) before I get anywhere near her.
- She has a distinct “hey, I want some attention” call that often starts with a cough, like she’s clearing her throat.
- Sometimes (every day or so) she’ll wake up from one of her naps in tears. When she’s crying for a non-fussy reason, she’ll stick out her lower lip and give us a giant frown. It is incredibly cute, in a heartbreaking kind of way.
- Sometimes she’ll get chatty and start making random vowel sounds. She’s not officially “babbling” yet.
- Lately she’s been sticking her tongue out and blowing, like she’s trying to blow a raspberry but hasn’t figured it out yet.