Petra is five months old!

Nanny’s birthday party–5 months and 960 months!

I can’t believe how fast these months are going. Petra is growing fast–13 pounds at her last check up, and that was about a month ago, so I bet she’s doubled her birth weight by now (Pam said, “Yeah, but didn’t Silas do that when he was two days old?” Not quite, but…).

She clearly is ready to be off and running. She can roll both ways, when she wants to (rarely). If I put her on her belly, she starts moving her legs like she’s crawling–just needs to get the tummy off the floor, and off she’ll go. She loves to stand up and bounce around. I get worn out just holding her in my lap because she’s so wiggly. She’s this close to being able to sit up on her own, and is quite frustrated about that.

Wiggle time!

Petra has always been a friendly baby, but this month, I’ve seen a real development in her engagement with other people. She tries to get attention and babbles conversationally.

A chat with Carlos

She especially adores Silas. He has started to treat her as a person who can be involved in his play a little more, constantly putting blankets and hats on her.

Just a normal day around here.

She, for her part, is quite patient with him and hardly fusses.

Does this hat make me look funny?

Petra has reached a stage that I sort of had forgotten about–the dreaded open-mouthed kiss attack.

Kiss attack–off course!

It’s so funny, because she clearly is grabbing us into hugs and trying to kiss us, but she doesn’t know what to do, so she just noms our cheeks.

She’s going to what?

Petra is more into toys than Silas was at this age. She sees Silas playing with toys and wants to do what he does, but when he was her age, he wanted to do what we were doing. I think it’s incredible that babies know that they will be children next, that children are their people. Petra finally can grab things pretty deliberately, and so can express her preference for various toys.

This pink dragon, a Christmas present from Aunt Kassi, is her favorite. It has all sorts of things that crinkle and jingle–lots of stuff to explore.

Yummy dragon!

Petra is definitely teething. I hate to see her in so much pain, but even through that, she maintains a sunny disposition.

Teething face!

All in all, this has been a quiet month, mostly just hanging out at home, museum, and library. We had Petra’s dedication at church, but I’m going to do a separate post for that.

Stoutness exercises (photo by Walter Heimbuch)
Grabby hands (photo by Walter Heimbuch)
Stoutness exercises (Photo by Walter Heimbuch)

We are so blessed with Petra. She’s an amazing baby.

Happy times (photo by Walter Heimbuch)

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