Sweet Julius. Taking a bit of a backstage role lately as his brother is doing a lot of Big Boy stuff, but this little boy is doing his fair share of growing and changing!
He has gotten very strong and active. He has a lot of upper body strength now and can raise his body right off the floor, and also roll front to back now – though he always seems to do that when I’m not looking. But mostly he no longer likes to be on the floor (that’s the reason for the ice cold grill above). He really wants to be carried around all the time now! I remember when Miles was this age I called him The Little Rajah because he wanted to be carted around so he could look at everything that interested him. Julius is now the same way except that he wants to be carted around following Miles all the time!
It can’t be overstated how much Julius LOVES Miles. He doesn’t have much time for me anymore and is always craning his neck around to see what his big brother is doing. He tries to grab his toys, though if he does get his hands on one he’s never quite sure what to do with it. Put it in my mouth? Hmm.
It’s even sometimes hard to wear Julius when we go out now because he wants to see all the action and his body is always moving moving. He’ll relax in the sling when he’s tired, but after a nap he wants out. I just started putting him in the back carry in the Ergo, which is my favorite carry because I am really hands-free, but he still only likes this if he’s still and willing to relax and maybe nap (and I have to be walking around, not just standing there washing dishes or something).
He’s still teething, of course – I expect that to go on and on. He still sometimes sucks a thumb but mostly sucks his middle two fingers to self-soothe. It’s pretty cute. Despite this ability to self-soothe, he now needs a LOOOOT of help to fall asleep. So much bouncing on the yoga ball. He has to be really out in order to go down for a nap, otherwise he will roll onto his face and get upset. When Julius cries, he cries like his heart is broken – it’s quite pitiful.
Also during the evening now, he wants to be held for hours. I would call it cluster feeding but it’s not really about eating. He just wants to be held, comfort nursing, while I bounce on the yoga ball, I’m not kidding, for a couple of hours. I do this once Miles is asleep so my days are rather long now – but I haven’t found a way around this as it’s the only thing that soothes Julius. I’m digging deep and trying to enjoy holding my (most likely) very last little baby every night.
Though he doesn’t feel so little these days! At 5 months he is wearing 9 or 12 month clothing. He’s a big, healthy boy, though he has definitely reached that stage where it can be hard to feed him during the day because he is so easily distracted. He is really reaching for our food any time we’re eating something, and I have actually tried a couple of purees with him just to see if he’d like them, but he was not enthused – his face was like, Woman, I want PIZZA wtf is this??
I’ve said before that Julius was loud but I think I’ve changed my mind and find him to be a pretty quiet baby now. He babbles and started saying consonant sounds – I know it’s coincidence but he says “mom, mom, mom” which sounds adorable – but he just sits there quietly observing and chewing his hands a lot too. When he’s excited he sometimes pants, which I find very cute. He’s started to have just a touch of stranger danger but mostly is still a very friendly baby and quick to smile at people when we’re out. He still gives you these long, soulful stares that will probably be the expression we will always remember when we remember Julius as a baby.
