By now, your baby's physical developments are coming fast and furiously. If you place him on his stomach, he'll extend his arms and legs and arch his back.
We call this Izani’s “sky diving pose”, coz he looks like a sky diver during terminal velocity.
when on his back, he'll lift his head and shoulders.
Oh, he’ll do more than that.. he’d try to get out of his car seat and once when Ilham didn’t buckle him up, he actually got out ! on the carpet or any flat surface, he’d slowly edge himself upwards like a backward crawl. I don’t use his changing table aymore coz he almost wiggled himself off it too many times. I change him on the bed nowadays. Even then, I try not to take my eyes off him.
Ilham says sometimes Izani reminds him of a big fat maggot because he's always wriggling around.
He may even sit momentarily without assistance.
Yup, he can do that, but it wont be long before he’d slowly fall face down.
If you support him under the arms while letting him balance his feet on your thighs, he'll bounce up and down.
This is his favourte game!
He's capable of easily bringing an object to his mouth for oral exploration. And izani’s favourite object is his own hands.
Learning about cause and effect
Your baby's ability to interact with you, others, and his surroundings is growing daily. At this stage, he may start playing little games as he begins to understand that simple actions have results.
I notice that he has his favourite games, namely singing "The Wheels on the Bus" and "Pok Amai-Amai". He also can tell that a tickle is coming when I start singing "cup cup pin..."
He also enjoys playing with his siblings more and more. (Which is a blessing for me, coz that means I can let Ilham take care of him while I do other stuff *grin*)
Repeating his favourite sounds
Your baby is adding new sounds to his language repertoire, and his current favourite is probably blowing a raspberry or making bubbles.
When izani makes bubbles, his brothers would pop them! Izani’s favourite words now are “hmmmmmuh” and "aaaayyyyhhh".
Strong enough to feed himself
Though he may be able to hold his own bottle now, don't prop your baby up and let him feed himself just yet. Your baby's probably showing more signs that he's ready for solids -- from a lessened tongue-thrust reflex to a keener interest in the foods you and other people are eating.
Izani can hold his on bottle, but he can't hold it for long. He can hold his pacifier even though what he usually does is pull it out of his mouth. More often than not, he doesnt want the bottle, so i don't get the chance to see him demonstrate this that much.
I feed Izani organic fine rice cereal, mixed with milk, once a day. He seems to like it a lot. When he is sitting on my lap while I'm eating, I notice that his head would turn and follow my hand from the plate to my mouth, with his mouth gaping and drooling. Poor thing.. he so wants to eat!
Able to see small objects and subtle colours
Your baby's getting better at spotting very small objects and tracking moving things. Earlier your baby learned to distinguish between similar bold colours. Now he's beginning to sort out subtle differences in pastels.
I really don't know how to test this, but what I know is that he's getting to be really interested in his Pooh baby gym lately. I can put him in there and he can stay occupied looking at the objects for about 10 minutes. He'd swipe at them sometimes, I don't know on purpose or by accident.
Honing in on sounds
Your baby now realises where sounds come from, and he'll turn quickly toward a new one. Your baby may watch your mouth intently when you speak now, and try to imitate inflections and utter consonant sounds such as "m" and "b." Five-month-olds can recognise their own name now.
He would defintely turn his head when someone calls his name now.
I have tried to make Izani repeat "muh muh muh" or "buh buh buh" or "Puh puh puh" after me, but all he does now is watch my mouth and his would quiver abit, but he's not conciously attempting it yet. When I least expect it though, he'd accidently let out some audible m, b, p sounds.
Easily distractable now
Sometimes he is, sometimes he's not. I can't read a book while breastfeeding anymore, because he would stop and turn to look at my book. SOmetimes when he cries, I could cheer him up by playing a game, clapping my hands or jiggling the keys, but at other times, he'd just scream his head off more..
A growing range of emotions
By five months your baby shows a strong attachment to you by raising his arms when he wants to be picked up and crying when you leave the room. He'll laugh at funny expressions or positions and try to make you laugh, too.
Ah yes... at one minute Izani would be okay sitting on his dad's lap quietly, but the moment I walk into the room or he hears my voice, he'd call out for me. He wont raise his arms, but he would be jerking about excitedly.
His favourite joke now is sneezing. After he sneezes I would say "Alhamdulillah!" and give him a huge grin, and he thinks it's so funny. If I sneeze, I'd do the same and he'd give me a shocked expression at first, then he'd grin.
He also likes playing peek-a-boo, especially when I'm trying to slip a shirt over his head. He used to get really scared of the momentary loss of vision as the shirt goes over his face, but a "peek-a-boo!" would usually cheer him up.
And as his 5-month birthday present, I am presenting you with a video of him throwing a tantrum:
Is my baby developing normally?
I'm kinda dissapointed that he has not repeated flipping over his back/tummy. I am afraid if this is the side effect of my always picking him up and carying him around. But Taufik is not worried, because from Izani's active movements it's pretty obvious that his muscles are developing normally.
We're considering getting him a walker, because he seems to hate to be strapped into his carseat or stroller while I'm cooking.
.Till next month, see ya!
*waves*
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