At Four Months

Oh my lovely baby girl, you are so much fun. I suspect I'll be saying this alot, but I love this stage. Four months - love it. Your sense of humor is so clear now, and you crack yourself up. Everything is a game to you. Making faces with me, trying out your voice with screeches and squeals (and oh my are you vocal these days), grabbing for a toy or the dog (who does not think this game is as much fun - life delights you. You aren't particularly coordinated yet, but you grab life (and the dog) with gusto.

You are so vibrant that strangers are drawn to you like a moth to light. And you revel in it, laughing and giggling, flirting with coy looks as you bury your face in my chest. Unless, of course, your Dad or I actually let that stranger, or, you know, grandparent, hold you. You're a bit early on that one, my love. Your poor Grandma, in particular, has been labeled as the person who comes and makes your Mom leave. All she has to do is walk in to the room and your face crumples. We're making sure to spend more time with all of us together, because she sure loves you alot. You are starting to let her hold you more again, and its a relief to me I'll admit.

That's your MO, though. You are precocious, early to figure things out, but then you take your time once you have. This month you practiced and practiced rolling over from your back to your tummy. For days I watched you on the verge of getting the hang of it, and you'd practice for long stretches of time. Then you got it, suddenly making rolling over look easy and reacting to my celebration with a look that clearly said "what, that? no biggie." And once you master the skill, you no longer feel the need to do it very often. You'll go days now without rolling over (or trying to roll over). But then, when you decide you'd like to roll over, you do so as easily as if you're rolling hundreds of times a day. Do you practice when I'm not looking?

You could be, actually. I went back to work this month. Its only part time, about 20 hours a week away from you. You've adjusted well - developing a routine with your nanny that is completely different from the one you have with me. She's still the only one that you'll really take a bottle for. (Your Dad would really appreciate your adding him to that exclusive list, by the way.) The two of you take long walks and watch the big kids play on the playground at least once a day, and I often come home to find the two of you playing on the floor. Though, just as often, I come home to find you dozing in her arms sucking a pacifier. That's another item you will take only from her, preferring to suck on your own thumb or our fingers when you are with your Dad or me.

What am I forgetting? I know there is so much. You have had a developmental explosion this month. I let go of you one afternoon and you sat up by yourself for a good 30 seconds, a feat you haven't repeated again. We established our first holiday tradition this month, with a Mama-made Halloween costume and a little trick or treating (of sorts). And... life it goes so fast, but it is so great.