5 Months Old

Stella is so interactive now. She knows my voice, Michael's and Sebastian's. Usually when someone talks to her she reacts by smiling, waving her arms and kicking her legs. When she is listening intently, she cocks her head to one side, opens her eyelids really wide, and holds perfectly still. It's so cute! When I pick her up she often reaches out to touch my face and she loves to put one hand on my mouth when I talk. Sometimes she grabs my lips. I think she is a pretty social person. She still does well when new people hold her, although I'm noticing that she enjoys spending a lot of time on her back playing with toys or chewing on her fingers. She is definitely teething already!

Stella has great head control, and does fairly well on her tummy now too. She holds her head up for a long time and will reach for toys in front of her. She has grabbing and batting down, so the next gross motor skill we are looking for is banging. Also we are trying to motivate her to roll. She enjoys it when I roll her around during play, she just doesn't seem to have any desire to do it on her own. Some of Stella's favorite toys are a stuffed lamb that jingles, a peek-a-boo piano that makes noise when she kicks it, and her taggies blanket that is easy to chew on.

Trips to her ocularist are difficult for me, as it seems very uncomfortable for her and I have a hard time listening to her cries. It is getting easier though, and she calms down quickly when June is done. Her sockets are expanding quickly, although her left socket is a bit behind the right socket. Every time we go June moves the conformer from Stella's right eye to her left eye and puts a new one in the right eye. I think the difference in a few months in remarkable and very noticable.

Stella currently takes 3 long naps per day - morning, afternoon and evening. Then she stays up until 1:00-1:30, but sleeps until around 9am, so I think it's a decent trade off. I often read with her in bed with me at night, and sometimes doze on and off until she falls asleep. Usually she takes a pacifier to fall asleep, but sometimes she just quiets down from playing and drifts off.

Sebastian has been signing Christmas Carols to Stella, and she seems to enjoy it. Stella's first Christmas - should be fun!