Kellen at Five Months

The Kelephant is nearly half a year old! BAH! He is still cute (look at that mischievous grin!) and he is still huge (95th percentile for height). People are always surprised when they hear how old he is because he is so large! His toes are already nearly poking out of his car seat. He has been wearing six month clothing for a while and is starting to outgrow lots of it (though most of it is still plenty wide, it’s just that all of his pants are too short!). But interestingly, he has teeny tiny feet and can still fit into most of his newborn shoes!

Kellen is a strong boy! I finally got smart and started putting his swaddle on backwards to make it harder for him to bust out of. He still usually has both arms out and waving around when I go get him in the morning, but it keeps them down long enough for him to fall asleep. He absolutely 100% refuses to sleep if his arms are loose. But after we swaddle him up, he usually gets an arm or two free within a few minutes. At which point he howls for us to come wrap him up again. It’s his favorite bedtime ritual: make mom swaddle him up so he can wriggle free again. And again. That kid. I remember Mason being somewhat the same way, but not to this extreme. Kellen is downright addicted to his swaddle I tell ya.

But, swaddle problems aside, he’s still a great sleeper. And my favorite thing is that he wakes up so happy. He wakes up with the biggest grin on his face, even if I rouse him out of a dead sleep. He doesn’t ever cry when he wakes up, so sometimes I don’t realize he’s awake until I go to check on him and see him peeking at me through the slats of his crib. He still prefers to sleep in his bed and fights it when I try to get him to sleep in my arms or in his car seat (though I can usually eventually get him to do both).
Kellen enjoys playing with toys and will triumphantly wave a toy over his head when he is finally able to grasp it. He seems to have a pretty long attention span and can contentedly play while I make dinner or fold laundry.

We let Kellen try the johnny jump for the first time, and he loved it! He just thinks he is so stinkin’ cool to be upright like a big boy. He could mostly only spin in circles on his toes, but he was loving being a standing man. He even managed to do a few tiny hops as he kicked his legs. He loves bouncing. We spend plenty of time bouncing him in our laps.

And recently, he’s taken up horseback riding:

He is a big fan of bouncing up and down on the Rody horse (while we hold on to him, of course).

I love that as he gets older, Kellen’s personality just gets bigger. He is such an expressive baby. He still smiles his biggest wide-open mouth grins and is the happiest little man. He has started “talking” more and more and he will talk and sing and holler at the top of his lungs, especially if someone is talking to him. He loves to chat and flirt with anyone who will give him attention. He is always trying to woo the ladies (JUST like his big brother). We are so in for it when they get older.

Actually, I’m a little concerned that we’re in for it already. These two are just too adorable for their own good.

Kellen really does adore his big brother. Those times that Mason is giving him attention just make Kellen’s whole face light up. I had no idea that Kellen’s admiration of his big brother would start so young, but Kellen has been fascinated with Mason right from the start. Mason adores Kellen too. Sometimes not QUITE gently enough, but he does love that Kellen Buddy.

Sometimes Mason will do the sweetest things for Kellen. Like bring him toys or share his special Monkey. I never get tired of watching my boys play together.

And speaking of my boys, I also love watching Kellen with his daddy. Kellen loves being tossed and tickled and wrestled in the way that daddy’s do best. Spencer can usually get Kellen to laugh his biggest laughs.

Spencer and Mason’s relationship with Kellen is based largely on play, that is definitely how they bond. I play with Kellen too, but we do a lot of our bonding through cuddling. Kellen still loves to be worn in the wrap or sling (though he’s getting big enough that it’s hard to wear him for as long as I used to be able to!) and he loves to cuddle up in my arms. He doesn’t like being held horizontally as much anymore, preferring to rest his head on shoulder, especially when I’m patting his back before bedtime or naptime. I am just trying to soak up as much cuddle time as I can, because I have the feeling that once he gets mobile he’s going to be way too busy trying to keep up with Brother to have time to cuddle with boring ole’ Mom.

Oh that happy smile. If he smiles like this for his senior yearbook photo, I think I’d be ok with it  :).