Five months: Things to remember

My boys are a little over five months old now, and are growing and changing and learning so many things.

Duckling can now easily roll from his back to this front, and does so a million times a day. The usual pattern is lie on back smiling, flip onto his belly, struggle a little and then start crying. We roll him back and give him a toy, which distracts him for a millisecond, then he rolls onto his stomach and starts crying. It's like the Groundhog Day of baby olympics, and the only way to stop it is to either carry him around or put him in the bouncy chair. He has learned to pull the rope that starts the musical frog, resulting in inane, incessant bubbly baby music. He swings off this rope like a monkey, and that damn music just never stops. But he has so much fun in the chair, kicking his legs and making it bounce up and down while laughing at the frog.

Pin has rolled over maybe five times, usually in his sleep, but hasn't figured it out during play time as yet. He has learned to try and attract our attention by shouting and fake crying, and when we look at him and talk he immediately starts smiling and babbling and shoving toys in his mouth. It's absolutely adorable. He also loves the bouncy chair, although he hasn't figured out the frog music or how to make it bounce on his own. He likes the vibrations and will sit and chew on a toy and make conversation.

Both boys are still very social and love to meet new people. They haven't learned to be shy, although Duckling can get a little overwhelmed with too much going on around him. He is very distractable during feeds, and it's better to take him to a quiet area so that he will eat. He is starting to reject the breast in favour of bottle, especially in the evening, and I am sad about this. Pin has been on the bottle exclusively for about a month now, and it was devastating when he rejected the breast. But I'm doing better with Duckling and am trying to take it in stride.

The boys have started fussing a lot in the evenings, and refusing to let their dad feed them. They are fussy with me too, but will at least eat. Duckling in particular has started screaming at bed time, and it takes him a long time to settle down and go to sleep. Sometimes both of them are in competition to see who screams the loudest, and it is so stressful that I cry along with them. They sleep well during the day, thank goodness.

Life is still like being on a hamster wheel. It is a repetitive pattern of feed play sleep, and it's not a lot of fun. I crave going out and doing things, but it's always such a big job to get everything ready, and bring what we need to feed, change and entertain them, that sometimes it's not worth the effort. We went to get our hair done today, and it was stressful trying to keep the boys fed and happy and not crying while both of us were getting our hair dyed and cut. We had to drive an hour and a half each way, and luckily they slept in the car both ways, or it would have been much worse.

We joined a family swimming class, which meets once a week and is for children 3 months to 3 years of age. It's mostly swishing them around in the water while singing, and there is usually moderate crying (Duckling) and frequent vomiting (Pin) but they are getting used to it and it's good to meet other families with babies.

Pin had surgery three weeks ago, for a left-sided inguinal hernia. Poor little guy, it was heartbreaking watching the nurse walk away with him toward the OR, and it was worse holding him as he came around from the anesthesia because he screamed and screamed and didn't seem to know who I was. They said he wasn't in any pain, and that it is a side effect of the anesthesia, but it was horrible to watch and I felt so helpless. We alternated acetaminophen and ibuprofen every three hours for two days, and he was fine after. The bandage came off after five days, and now the scar is barely visible.

I have decided to start baby-led weaning once they are big enough to feed themselves, and skip the spoonfeeding of purees. They should be ready in a month or so. Our friends are spoonfeeding their little girl cereals and fruits, and I just can't imagine adding that to our daily routine. You can just get so much more accomplished when you have only one baby! They bathe her every day as well, while we manage only two or three times a week. The baby-led weaning philosophy really appeals to me, so I don't feel badly about not giving the boys rice cereal and squashed fruit. ...'Food before one is just for fun'....

First swimming lesson

We signed the boys up for Parent/Tot swimming lessons, mostly because I wanted to meet other parents with babies of similar age. I haven't had much luck meeting people in the park, and the Ontario Early Years Centre was a bust, due to it being inaccessible to strollers....uh huh.

Cloth swimming diapers were purchased, and we were good to go. S took Pin into the changeroom and I took Duckling. I changed him into his cute fishy bathing suit and undressed, and managed to put everything into a locker while simultaneously juggling the boy, the towels and the locker key. I took a shower while holding Duckling away from the hot water, and we were ready. The shower area was packed with women and children, so I politely excused my way to the door to exit into the pool area. It was locked. While this explained the crush of bodies in the shower area, it didn't make it any more comfortable. Apparently the door remains locked while the intructors ready the pool area for the lesson. Eventually we were allowed into the pool, and we joined the rush of men and headed to the pool. We were told to line up around the perimeter of the shallow end, so we headed to the far side of the pool where there was a small gap. It was CROWDED. I couldn't believe how many families had been enrolled into the class.

The swimming lessons were for children aged 3 months to 3 years, but there were a good number of infants. The class consisted of waving the babies back and forth in the water while singing. We put them on their stomachs and then their backs, and pulled them around trying to make them kick their legs. Duckling stood this for the entire half hour, a stoic little frown on his face, hanging loosely in the water and looking at all the commotion. Pin lasted 15 minutes then started crying, and we had to take him out because he was getting quite upset. He fell asleep once he was out of the water, so it seems nap time is not to be ignored.

After class we all piled back into the changing room to dress. It turned out to be quite a juggling act. There is one change table, but it's just a table; there are no safety straps so you can't put the baby down safely. I retrieved all our items from the locker and waited my turn for the table, and finally was able to dry Pin and dress him. I couldn't let him go, so had no way to dress myself. I struggled into my clothes over my wet bathing suit, and met a fully dressed S in the hallway; he had asked somebody to hold Duckling while he dressed. I think next week we will take the car seats into the change room so that we have somewhere safe to put the boys while we get dressed.

Anyway, mission accomplished. I met some really nice people, and fingers crossed I will have some company in the park!