Soren update: 5 months

On the sheet handed out at Soren's four-month wellness visit, it stated, "This is considered one of the most social ages in infancy.  Enjoy introducing your baby to new people and watching that smile."

True to his age, Soren has been a social baby.  He loves smiling at people and it's easy to get him going by talking to him in excited baby talk and showing off an exaggerated smile.  Although Chris thinks he's shown the first signs of separation anxiety, he's otherwise been comfortable with others until this point and likes to be held. 

The one sure-fire way to get Soren to laugh is to tickle his belly.  He's really ticklish!  (Just like his mom!) When he went in for his appointment at four months, the pediatrician commented on how ticklish he is. 

At four months Soren had just started to roll over from stomach to back.  But by the end of the month he had abandoned that skill for rolling from his back to his stomach.  If you place him on his back on the floor, it doesn't take him long until he flips to his stomach, where he enjoys a better view of Oliver playing.  Unless distracted by Oliver, Soren acts as if landing in the tummy-time position had taken him by surprise and he cries, which is why I say he seems to have forgotten how to roll back onto his back, because otherwise, he should know how to get out of this predicament.  So while it's fun to watch Soren flip onto his tummy, his revelation of this new skill resulted in some bad sleep for a few days. 

Soren has pretty much outgrown his bouncy chair, but he can't sit up on his own yet and if we put him on his back on the floor to play, he rolls onto his stomach, which then leads to cries for help.  So for the time-being, we're stuck carrying him around or balancing him on our laps while trying to eat dinner.  He can sit up by himself unassisted for a few seconds with the support of the Boppy, and I know Oliver could sit in his booster seat by six months, so hopefully we're just a few weeks away from the next stage of physical development.

I have tons of pictures of my kids up in my office, so my co-workers know what they look like, but when I ran into one of them when I was out with Soren and pulled off his hat so he could get a better look, he exclaimed, "The kid's got no hair!"  Just like his parents and his brother as babies, Soren's a baldy, and I don't expect him to grow much hair for another year.  I have a friend whose baby was born ready for a haircut, but not so for any kids of mine. 

Everywhere I go with Soren, I still get tons of comments from strangers about what a beautiful/cute/darling baby he is.  Some even comment on his "big" eyes, although Oliver elicited many more of those observations.  And I still can't help but be proud, even though I had no say in what mix of genes he got.  Just like with Oliver, I feel sad that he'll one day no longer be "that cute little baby."