5 mos

Oh my goodness.  It's been a month.  I think Douglas has gained about 3 lbs.  This morning our home scale had him over 17lbs.  He rolls over.  He scoots backwards.  He almost gets up on all fours.  He holds his own bottle.  He grabs with very deliberate purpose.

He enjoys his bouncy jumper more than Gerald ever did.  He really uses it to jump, whereas Gerald like playing with the toys on the rim.  He sleeps fairly well.  He's already playing with the music table (w/o legs).

He still spits up on everything.  He gets AR formula a few times a day to help reduce the spit up, but it doesn't seem to make a big difference.  Our laundry situation is a bit out of control.  We used to be a load a day family and I feel lie it's now a 1.5-2.5 loads a day.  Especially if Robbin is home because he tends to change his clothes as soon as they have spit up on them, while I tend to wait till at least nap time.

Douglas loves Gerald.  Gerald is interested in Douglas.  Gerald is starting to show more attention to Douglas and this thrills my youngest to no end.  Gerald will replace a dropped paci, pat Doug's head and say, "sshh Baby, don't cry,  ssshh.".  And he says this in a very caring way.  Gerald tripped and fell on Doug this weekend (no one was hurt) and Gerald's first reaction was, "I don't hurt baby," with very earnest eyes.

Gerald is teaching me how to parent a 2 year old who likes to test limits.  When we try to talk to him about his misbehavior, even if it is a simple, "You have to listen to Mommy/Daddy."  He will avert his eyes and try to run away from you to play trains or go on a walk or any idea he can come up with to avoid being talked to about what he has done.

He's in a toddler bed now and Robbin has sat outside Gerald's room to put him back in bed for about 4 nights in a row now.   He eventually stops coming out and goes to sleep.  Gerald will not sit through a meal at the dinner table.  He wants to get up and run around or stop and play with his kitchen and then get back to his food when he's ready.  I can't blame him, but he needs to learn to stay at the table until he's excused.  And it's going to be a tough lesson apparently.

Gerald can "read" books to me now.  He says thank you and bless you unprompted. He wants to run to the front of the house to see the "engine" anytime he hears a siren.  He runs around my kitchen saying "I running! I running!  I running!"   He's all  a around pretty great kid.  But he's also 2.  So that is kind of wearing me out these days.