Half

Stats:

Weight: about 17 lbs

Height: about 27 inches

Clothing: 3-6 Months

Diapers: Size 3

Highlights:

-started on solids

-learned he can lay his head down and rest while on his stomach (an amazing discovery for him)

-LOVES the exersaucer

-crazy strong legs (and body in general)

-will take a few steps if you hold his hands to balance him

-knows how to roll over, but just is not interested in the least

-will get his knees and feet under him and push his bum into the air to inch himself forward

-extra snuggly this month <3

-started to coo high pitched long "notes" when the piano starts playing or you start singing, loves music

-Gets F-U-S-S-Y/cranky/grumpy when overtired, but can go forever without eating and be pretty happy

-Learned how to gasp and does so often, made me think he was choking at first

-So smiley and giggly, just a happy babe :)

-Very ticklish armpits

-SCRATCHING

-can sit up on his own, but is still a bit wobbly

-can pick up pacifier and put it in his own mouth

- ^will find his pacifier amongst all toys to put in his mouth

-likes, but can't quite figure out, shadows

-wiggles on the floor like a snake when excited (our new favorite thing he does)

-kicks his feet while in his carseat like a madman
-kicks like a madman when he is excited, whether in the carseat or not

-wakes up every 3-5 hours during the night to eat, but, for now, goes right back to sleep (like he did before that 4 month regression, hallelujah)

-thinks Kyle is the funniest

<3

Scratching. We should all probably start calling Ezra "Scratch" as a nickname. Maybe that can be his athlete nickname: Ezra "The Scratch" Brown. I do not know when or why he discovered that opening and closing fist motion, or why it is so riveting, but Ezra is a little scratcher. When he nurses, he reaches up and scratches his head (sometimes with too much vigor and bleeds...). When falling asleep he will reach up and do that scratch motion to his pacifier, which just makes that handle part of the pinky flip up and down over and over again. I usually know when he is about to fall asleep in the car because all of a sudden I hear "click, click, click" as he scratch-flips that binky-end over and over again. He scratches at books. He scratches the couch. He scratches walls. He scratches clothes. He scratches skin. He particularly like to reach up and scratch at faces. I know he is just fine tuning his pincher skills for picking up toys, food and other objects, but right now, this little scratch is pretty cute. Also, sometimes it hurts, but, mostly it is just cute.

         Ezra and 3-Month-To-The-Day younger cousin, Zackary

We really started to notice this month how tough Ezra is. He has a pretty high pain tolerance. There have been so many times when I've done something on accident (scratched him, bumped his head, dropped something on him, etc.) where he should've cried, reacted, ANYTHING. And he just kept doing what he's doing like nothing ever happened. In fact he usually looks at me with this ''What happened? Why do you look so concerned, Mom?" He's just TOUGH. Funny story: I had just been telling my brother, who was visiting, how tough Ezra was. Then a couple hours later, Z was laying next to me and I put my drinking glass, which was filled with ice water, on his foot and he SCREAMED in opposition. HA. So, very tough--but don't you go putting cold things on his feet.

We started solids! We thought we wouldn't start until 6 months, but when trying to decide what we could do to help him sleep better, and after trying so many different things, we felt like maybe he needed a little more substance--solids it was. I was very into the baby-led weaning method, but we scrapped that idea for our bitty babe and just decided to do baby purees. He was not big enough for solid whole foods yet. Sometimes you need to adjust your parenting philosophies to fit your child's needs.

He was not so sure about solids at first. In fact, he really hated rice cereal. For the first week, we tried rice cereal mixed with breastmilk and he was just NOT having it. Then we did some carrots and he ate those with more gusto. I even tried mixing the carrots and rice cereal, but he rejected the ones with rice cereal every time. It took him about two weeks to really figure out how to open his mouth for bites and that solid foods were yummy and not deadly. He eats much better now. He loves loves loves greek yogurt. Plain or flavored, he ain't picky. He gagged on everything at first, and then just on things that were not perfectly smooth. In the last few days, he has gotten better at handling foods with a bit more texture and doesn't always gag when there is a lump or bump while eating. He has even gnawed on some crackers and such. We will head into more whole foods this month as he learns to pick up things better. 

Post nursing sweaty hairdo