Four months

Four months! I know I’m going to sound like a broken record, but this month was even more fun than last – and I know it will just keep getting better. The best development this month, for me at least, has been that you now sleep through the night, from 8 p.m. til 7 a.m. We sometimes hear you wake up and talk to yourself in the middle of the night, but you can usually settle yourself back down, and I remember once more what it feels like to have a good night’s sleep. When you wake up in the morning and we pick you up out of your crib, you let out a delighted squeal that is just too cute. We bring you into bed with us for a few minutes, and you love it, sandwiched between the two of us, smiling and chattering and surely getting a kink in your neck as you look from one of us to the other and back again. It’s your happiest and most social time of day.

You laugh now, and it’s a beautiful sound. It started when I was changing your clothes and inadvertently tickled you – now you laugh every time I change your clothes, because you expect it. (This is a far cry from the screaming you used to do every time we changed you!) Just a couple of days ago you laughed for the first time completely unprovoked, when your second-cousin-once-removed (we think) Sydney crawled over and sat down next to you. You have also developed what I call The Grumble. It’s a terrible noise to listen to, but it usually means that you’re on the brink of falling asleep and it’s also usually mercifully short-lived. You moan and carry on like the world is coming to an end and then – sudden silence – you’re out like a light. When you do wake up during the night, I only go to you when The Grumble escalates into The Cry. The Cry is not always preceded by The Grumble, and The Grumble does not always turn into The Cry.

You can finally roll over. You made it from your back to your tummy for the first time a couple of weeks ago. Chad was off work and we both saw it happen – we were so proud, cheering like a couple of fools. For days we were telling anyone who would listen that you can roll over. Of course, after that, it took another ten days for you to repeat it. Now you do it all the time, and in no time flat – I turn away, I hear a grunt, and when I look back there you are on your tummy, no doubt thinking, What now?? You still love to play with your hands, but you have now graduated to being able to hold things in them. Thank goodness. With every little milestone like this, you become more independent and able to amuse yourself. If I need a couple of minutes to do something, I can hand you anything – a rattle, a spoon, who cares – and you will hold it and stick it in your mouth and munch on it quite happily for a while. This buys me time at the grocery store, in a restaurant, all sorts of places. A really nifty trick. You also play in your exersaucer now, sometimes chewing on it more than playing with it, but it keeps you happy and that’s all that we ask.

You have finally noticed that we have a cat in the house. When he enters your field of vision you stop whatever you’re doing and watch him, mesmerized. I hope you’ll learn to be kind to him and not pull his tail – if you do, I fear that he might teach you a lesson, as he is not entirely sure what to think of you, either.


Now that you’ve hit four months, it’s time to start thinking about our stance on the issue of crying it out. Sleeping through the night is going well and napping is going well, but you still need us to put you to sleep, and we can’t do this indefinitely. (You know that Lost is starting up again in a few weeks, don’t you? If that’s not incentive to have you in bed by 8 p.m., I don’t know what is.) I don’t know where we’ll land on this one, and I’m not looking forward to it.

At four months old, you weigh xx pounds and are xx inches long [to be confirmed at Monday’s doctor appointment]. Keep on keeping on, little man, we're loving every minute of it.