Facts about Leighton at 5 and almost a half months

-He drools like no child I've ever seen. Literally, it is like rivers flowing out of his mouth CONSTANTLY. He always has his chubby little fist shoved in there, just drooling away. And it's not just from teething - he has been like this his entire life. Poor girl who he kisses first...she might get a little pool in her mouth as a parting gift.
-He is the world's worst baby food eater. He had a really hard time figuring out how to eat milk in the first place, but solids are a whole new world. One I would rather not enter, thank you very much. We have been trying just about every day for almost 2 months now, and today was the first time he opened his mouth in response to the spoon full of food. Normally it's a battle to shove it in his mouth and around his fat tongue. It's not that he doesn't want it - he does. He just cannot figure out how to eat it. Some days I want to pull my hair out, give up, and save myself some time by slapping it on his bib myself...because that's about the only place it goes. Until today. Thanks for swallowing some, buddy. You give me the courage to try again tomorrow.
-He goes crazy for books. I am not very good about reading to him alone - he's usually there while I read to Eva. But I have been trying to give him more alone reading time, and he's starting to go insane about it. Whenever he sees a book in front of him and I start reading, he starts breathing all heavy and flapping his arms and legs. Yesterday I let him pull it to his mouth, and after a miniscule touch of the tongue, there was a dripping puddle of spit on the page. Good thing Santa is bringing him a "teething book" for Christmas.
-He still spits up. He is slightly better than a month ago, but not cured yet. What a horrible thing; I cannot wait until that phase is over.
-He has terrible exima. At his 4 month appt., we got some magical steroid cream to put on his face because he had it really bad on his cheeks. And it worked like a charm. Then it started popping up in patches ALL over his body. His elbow, his stomach, his head, behind his ears...everywhere. That cream saves us. Everyday I find a new spot. One clears up, and another one comes along. Can't wait until he's a teenager and we have acne to deal with. Awesome. Fortunately, he's still as cute as can be even though he looks like he has rhino skin sometimes.

-He loves playing ball. As in, he loves having a ball thrown at him. Near him, on him...doesn't matter. It makes him laugh every time. Even if the only ball we have is pink. He doesn't seem to mind. :)
-He adores bathtime, and always has. Now when I lay him on the rug in the bathroom and turn on the water, he starts flapping so hard I think he's going to take off. He knows what the sound of water means, and he loves being in the tub with Eva.
-His other favorite sound is when I'm shaking up the formula into his bottle. If he is crying, he'll do this big smile to say he knows what's coming, but keeps on crying. He now recognizes his bottle by sight and if it's anywhere near his face before I'm ready to feed it to him, he cranes his neck to try to suck on it.
-I love you, Boonie Boy. Even with your spit-up, drool, and exima, you are still my favorite Buster in the world.