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March & Five Months… In Numbers!

20 Weeks and 3 Days
20 Weeks and 3 Days

Mark turned five months on March 12 and I got a few more white hair to match the snowy landscape outside—we got a lot of snow lately.

Like every month around the twelfth, I realize with amazement that Mark is four weeks older. Time does fly even though it feels like winter will never end.

We noticed a lot of changes since last month. His hand-eye coordination is much better and he can grab any object (including my hair, a favourite of his) with both hands. He loves playing with colourful toys and pulls them hard, so hard they sometimes fall on him. The strength of babies is amazing!

Although he still can’t seat alone without support, his posture is much better and he mastered the “look I’m sitting… and now I’m rolling onto my side and onto my tummy!” very well. He loves tummy time and does mini push-ups on his arms, and seems close to be crawling.

Mark is very playful and loves grabbing blankets, sheets, towels, sleeves and sucking on them. It’s like we are not feeding him or something… and boy, trust me, he does eat! Gone is the small 6-pound baby we brought back from the hospital. Last month, at the pediatrician checkup, he was 62 centimetres tall and weighed 6.7 kilos!

He is very curious and loves looking around him. He follows everything and everyone and even laughs at my lamest jokes. He smiles a lot and enjoys the attention he gets—and boy, he needs attention like a Chinese little emperor!

However, he suddenly became very shy with other people. For the first three months, he loved being carried and didn’t really care who was holding him. Now he screams each time my in-laws hold him and stops as soon as I take him back. It’s like pressing an on/off button!

So, after month one, month two, month three and month four, here is month five… in numbers!

Clothes that are too small: Ahem… all his onesies. I have to buy new ones, the 0-3 months we have are way too tight. He also outgrew his pyjamas and quite a few t-shirts with his Buddha-like belly. But he has lots of clothes and my mom just sent a few outfits de France.

Number of times he peed on me: Twice this month. Good aim and good timing too: right on the pair of jeans I had just washed!

Number of times he was sick: Once. He got a cold, and then we all got it. Babies are small but lethal weapons of mass destruction—he recovered faster than we did!

Number of vaccines received: Two shots and one oral vaccination (DTaP, Hib, IPV, PCV and Rota). We follow the recommended immunization schedule (i.e. I’m not of these lunatics who think vaccination gives AIDS or whatever BS). Funny, he hated the oral vaccine (tastes yucky?) but didn’t cry for the shots—I was distracting him and he was laughing! Great, maybe he will get his first tattoo at twelve if he doesn’t develop a fear of needles…!

Number of holidays celebrated: One, Chinese New Year. He was wearing red and proudly held the “happy New Year” sign I made to mark the end of the Year of the Dragon. Next year, he will be eating jiaozi with us!

Number of fingers grabbed and sucked on a daily basis: Twenty, his and mine. Because ten just isn’t enough apparently.

Number of baths given: About twenty. I usually give him a bath every other day but I did it every day when he had a cold since the steam and hot water seemed to help. We cannot bath him in the sink anymore, he is way too big, so I use a small baby bathtub. He was scared at first but now enjoys splashing water everywhere—by the time we are done it’s like we both took a bath.

Number of haircuts: One! Mark has a lot of hair and it was getting quite long so I cut the ends myself. Turned out pretty good actually! He has my hair texture so it wasn’t too difficult. I wouldn’t know how to cut “true” Asian hair.

Number of smiles: Thousands to mommy and daddy. Makes it up for the cranky days!

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Zhu

French woman in English Canada.

Exploring the world with my camera since 1999, translating sentences for a living, writing stories that may or may not get attention.

Firm believer that nobody is normal... and it’s better this way.

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