Month 5

Dear Joaquin,
This week, you turned 5 months old. I'm not sure if I will always write to you every month--but you have done so much this month. Everyday, we find new things that make you laugh or smile. Everyday, you show us new skills.

You are a real honest to goodness baby now--not a larva anymore. You are a big baby with cute chubby hands and cheeks. You laugh when we kiss your belly or make farting noises. You already enjoy potty humor--how advanced! After all those months of work learning to hold up your head, you can now hold up your own head, and most of your torso. I can carry you on my hip now and you wrap your chubby legs around and hang on.

Since you are a big baby, you no longer take your naps in the swing. You sleep in your crib like a real baby does. Your dad thinks I'm a little psychotic about your new nap schedule. It means I'm housebound a lot of the time because I don't want to disrupt your schedule. But it took us a while to get here, and I don't want to mess it up.

You are a pro at rolling over from your back to your tummy. You prefer to sleep on your tummy. Or, maybe you don't prefer, you at least deal with it--because you're still working on rolling the other way. You are exploring the confines of your crib. You like to wrap your hand around the edge of the mattress. It's just one way you are exploring and opening up to the world.

Your culinary tastes are moving beyond the boob! Your favorite foreign food is water from my glass--you don't want it in a sippy cup, your want it in a real glass. So, as soon as I get water from the fridge, you reach your arms out for it and make a fishy face and wiggle wiggle wiggle. And I put the glass to your mouth--there is a lot of excessive tongue wagging, but you are a pretty good drinker! Still working on that bottle though...

The day after you turned 5 months old, Barack Obama was elected as president of the united states. You went with me to vote, and even got your own sticker. If you are ever asked where you were when you found out, you were sleeping in your crib while we were downstairs watching tv at home. There were fireworks in our neighborhood. We had friends at the rally downtown--but it was a quiet night at home for the three of us. But you and I are both lucky to have this happen in our lifetime--and maybe in 40+ years, you will be the first half-Mexican president ;). But lets not get ahead of ourselves--you still poop in your pants.

Love,
your mama.