5 Months Old!

Dear Cohen,
Today you turned five months old! This month you have started discovering the world with your mouth. You love to suck on blankets, your toys, your fingers and just about anything else you can get your hands on. Ever since you started reaching for things, I have noticed you use your left hand a lot more than your right. I am betting you are going to be a lefty like your daddy! A couple of times you have surprised me with how fast you can grab objects and you have thrown your hand right into the middle of whatever I am eating. Which brings me to the next thing, FOOD! You have experienced eating rice cereal (with water, milk or apple juice), sweet potatoes and carrots now. I say experienced because you don't like it all that much yet and most of the time you seem to barely put up with it, but you do eat the carrots a little better than the other food I have offered you. People say that once they started their babies on solids it was magic and their babies then slept through the night. Well, you aren't one of those babies, but last night you did do pretty well. Actually, probably one of the best nights yet! You went down at 7:30 and woke up at about 9:30 and then slept until 2 am and then until 6 am and again until 8 am! That is two 2 hour and two 4 hour increments! YEAH! Good job! You now take all of your naps and sleep all night in your crib. This has been nice for your daddy and I because we don't have to worry about breathing too loud and waking you. I tried putting you in your own room when you were 3 months, but I was so nervous about it that I didn't sleep well. There is only a wall separating us, but it seemed like a thousand feet away. I don't know what changed, but now I am fine with you growing up and having your own room. I even get a chance to miss you when you go down so early in the evening, but your daddy always reminds me that I will see you in a couple of hours so enjoy the "me time".

You LOVE to play with your daddy. You both laugh and laugh together while he makes funny faces and sounds and tickles you. You still love to bounce and I love your jumper! It is the only toy we have for you that you seem to enjoy for longer than 5-10 minutes. It is hilarious to watch you push your little legs off the ground and jump around spinning in the door frame.

I want these newsletters to be not only about your development and what I love about you, but I want to hopefully teach you about what is important to me. You have two uncles that you haven't met yet. One of my brothers lives a few states away and I haven't seen him in over eight years. The other brother, my oldest, lives here, but has been in jail most of my pregnancy with you and since you were born. A couple weeks ago he almost died when he left the treatment center he had been court ordered into and over dose on heroin. He was extremely lucky to live since they were breathing for him for quite some time. Unfortunately this wasn't the first time he had come so close to death. He is consumed by a serious drug problem that he can't seem to overcome. He has lost both of his children and has no material possessions to his name. He has repeatedly hurt everyone around him to support his habit. The devastation that his choices has brought to our family has been endlessly wearing on my mom. I tell you this because he isn't the only one with addictions in our immediate family and I have learned first hand by watching my loved ones that drugs and alcohol, among other things, can destroy your life. I love you so much and I want you to know about the dangers it can bring. Even at this early age when I see so much potential for you I think about what I don't want for you as well. I want for you to have an extremely happy and healthy life and I hope I can lovingly guide you through hard decisions so you can look back on the choices you eventually make and know they were the right ones for you.

Love,

Mama