Osborne Family: 5 Months and All Things New

On the 14th, Mollie turned 5 months old. How on Earth did THAT happen? I can think about all of the things that we have done with Mollie, and it adds up to a lot. But it is so hard to think back to when she was smaller. She is already almost an entire head longer than when she was born!

Everyday seems brand new with a baby in the house. We have new adventures all the time! Mollie screams at music on a daily basis. Right now, David is singing her "What a Wonderful World", and she is letting out piercing shrieks. She loves kicking her floor tom drum with her feet when she is laying on her pack 'n play listening to David sing. She also loves her little maracas. What a little musician! Every night, she and David do about 45 minutes of music time. Needless to say, David's guitar playing has gotten quite good!

Mollie has been eating solids for about 5 weeks now. We have gone through all the traditional foods: bananas, sweet potatoes, peas, apples, squash, carrots, and pears. She loves them all. We've decided to stay away from prunes for the time being. :) Mollie has a pink sippy cup that she loves holding after she eats. She takes a few sips of water. Very refreshing!

Last night, Mollie cracked us up. She was in her tub on the counter in the bathroom playing with a little terry cloth duck. She plopped it in the water, and at the same moment brought her left arm (which had been hanging out of the left side of the tub) up. Her fist was overflowing with about 5 cotton balls. She didn't even look at her hand. It just floated up with cotton balls in it like they were supposed to be there. So silly. Then she preceded to shriek for about 10 minutes after her bath.

Mollie is determined to walk. She has been trying for 2 months already! By holding her under her arms, she will stand. She can even hold onto the table or her exer-saucer and stand for about 10 seconds on her own- or until she gets distracted and reaches for something across the room! She likes to "step step" towards the dog or cat. Her feet start prancing in place. It is hilarious. It is especially funny after a bath, seeing a nude little baby trotting across the bathroom floor. In the past few weeks, her wiggling steps have grown into actually leg lifting and moving forward. That child will walk soon, and we are IN for it.

Last Monday (Martin Luther King Jr. Holiday), we took Mollie to Memorial Park for the first time. The day before, she rode in the stroller like a "big girl" for the first time. No infant carrier. So, we thought it would be fun to go to the park. No reaction to the zoo- she had no clue that she was looking at alligators or owls! So, we went to the pond. Mollie saw a few Canadian Geese. I quacked like them, and she cracked up. A couple gave us bread that we fed them too. We then went to the play area and tried a slide together. No reaction. In her defense, it was a pretty dinky slide. :) She then went on the baby swing, which she loved! Her eyes were twirling around watching all the kids playing. (I think 4 of whom were my students.) She rode on our laps on a swing, and then rubbed her hands all over the painted bulldog statue. Lysol, anyone?

Quack! Quack! Quack!

Daddy quacks better.

What's so great about that?

Okay, now this is fun!

Pretty blue eyes!

We are having the best time with our baby! I'm smiling right now as she coos, and David wiggles Mollie's hand in her mouth, producing the sound: "uh- bub- bub- ru-la- bub".