When I named my children, I thought very hard about potential nicknames others might give them. And if there were associated nicknames (which there are with both my kids names), I wanted to be the one to choose what the short form was. I can’t stand when someone calls my kid something else! Why do you think I gave them a name?!

But my husband jokingly called James Jimbo once and Maggie caught onto that very quickly. Now she says “it’s okay Jimbo”, “where is Jimbo?” and so on and so forth. She will also call him James, but hearing her say Jimbo is frankly adorable so. I guess that one is sticking around for now. Hell, I even call him that which is not what I intended but it just slips out now. Shout out to my husband for lighting this fire.

• 5 Month Abilities & Milestones

Lets review the 4-6 month milestones again:

So this past month James has mostly been working on developing the skills he started at 4 months (which I discussed in our last update). He rolls from tummy to back and back to tummy, and he can now also spin himself around in one spot. He is playing with toys more actively now in tummy time.

He definitely supports himself with his legs now if we’re holding him up or in the Jolly Jumper which we just started using with him. Before you say anything – everything in moderation. But you can expect a post on the JJ coming up soon because it crossed my mind already. I’ll also be reviewing a few other products (sit-me-ups for example).

He’s still utterly obsessed with his feet and treats his big toes like a 3rd and 4th thumb (ew for anyone except babies whose feet are the only cute feet in the world).

The past 1-2 weeks he has also started babbling a lot more as well as making this new “noise” that is like a grunting whine? I don’t know how to describe it, but it’s cute and weird until he does it for 15 minutes straight!! It’s almost like a little growl, I guess. I’ve noticed him saying the consonant “ma” now, as well as a few others when he babbles away. And he definitely talks when he needs attention!

James continues to be super interested in food, but he’s not ready to start yet. The recommendation for solids is still 6 months (please speak to your provider for any specific questions/concerns). Signs of readiness are discussed here and I also had a guest post on starting solids with a pediatric nutritionist which you can review here. I’d say James has met 2/3 of these critieria, but I’ll wait till he’s able to sit up with less help before starting.

Wonder Weeks: Leap 5 Loading.. & Sleep

We’re about 4 days out from Leap 5 and I’ve definitely already seen some signs of it starting. James sleep has been disrupted for a few days (I’m also wondering if he is teething again – still no teeth though!) and he has had some fussier days too. This is usually what happens when a leap is occurring or just before.

He’s been waking up anywhere between 2-5 times a night. It really depends on the night. We will get 2-3 good nights with only 2 wake ups, followed by some less favourable nights with multiple wakes. Luckily, he goes right back to sleep within less than 10 minutes most of the time. The past few days he was waking up at around 5:30 am though and blowing bubbles or babbling – definitely think he’s just working on some skills and has to get through this.

Are we going to sleep train? Probably not. I’ve thought about it, I won’t lie. Maggie slept way better than James as a baby I’m now realizing. We were (and continue to be) very lucky with her sleep. With her I just implemented a good routine and environment, and she seemed to take care of the rest achieving full overnight sleep *consistently* after 9 months (but definitely a few times a week before that too). James seems to need a bit more help but he also needs to gain weight a bit (he fell slightly off his curve at our 4 month appointment) so until we have a weight check in, which I’m planning on booking in the coming week or so, I will continue with what we are doing now (routine + environment).

I see lots of people be very successful with this – and just “light” sleep training (like waiting only 5 minutes for baby to settle, etc). I personally believe that wake-ups are biologically normal to a certain extent, and because I know he *can* sleep longer on those good nights I’m not overly concerned at this time. I will survive with my coffee or tea in hand and hopefully he will regulate his sleep a bit more soon. For now, I will hold onto those few nights we get with excellent sleep!

Next up I’ll share our full bedtime routine for James + my toddler! Keep an eye out for that one.

Likes & Dislikes

James has started to belly laugh this month which has been very exciting! But finding out what will make him laugh is challenging. So far he really likes the dog playing rough with my husband or a toy, being tickled (but only sometimes) on his belly, and sometimes random things his sister does. He’s a tough crowd but when that belly laugh gets going it’s so worth it!

He continues to love bath time – he really likes splashing now too with his feet! When he discovered it, I couldn’t get him to stop! So bath time has got a lot wetter for me haha.

James got a new puppy dog toy from Coco Village and he’s also obsessed with that. Basically any animal or animal toy is a big fave here!

You can use our Coco Village code for 10% off any item: KATE10

He is SUPER interested in food, which I mentioned above. We will start our solids journey at 6 months and I can’t wait now because he’s so excited about our food!

In terms of dislikes, the car aversion seems to be pretty much completely gone now (fingers crossed I didn’t jinx us). He is quite happy in the car when he can see his sister or hear her, and when he has toys to play with or chew on. He usually falls asleep twice on our 2 hour drive up to the cottage (two 30 min naps) and is generally happy the rest of the ride till he starts getting hungry.

Sometimes Maggie can be a bit rough with him (we have to reminder her of soft touching + gentle hands some days) and he is not a fan of that, but he also sometimes lets her beat him up LOL – not actually of course, but I did find her colouring on his forehead yesterday. So it really depends on the day.

He’s mostly a very happy guy and is pretty much only unhappy when he is hungry or tired – so typical human being stuff 🙂

Here are our faves for this month too:

Next month is an exciting one – I can’t wait to share! If there are any other details you’d like in our monthly updates, DM me! I will also do my 6 month postpartum update next month so stay tuned.