They were right...

Experienced parents always tell new parents, "They grow up so quickly." Many people told me and Baby K's daddy this at the beginning. I of course did not believe them. Until this week, that is. Monday afternoon, Baby K rolled over from his tummy to his back for the first time, to excited applause from myself, his grammy (my mom), his great-granny (my dad's mom), and his Auntie A (my sister). He did it five more times that afternoon and evening, receiving great adulation each time. Then, Tuesday afternoon, he was quite fussy, so I ran my finger along his gum-- and felt the tips of his first tooth poking through. Grammy had felt his gums the day before and nothing was there, so the tooth popped up literally overnight. He's been cranky and drooly and gnawing everything within arm's reach, poor baby. This evening at church, Baby K turned pages in his board book, stood on his own holding onto the back of the pew, and realized that he is the one who pulls his pacifier out and therefore can (attempt to) put it back in. He came very close to succeeding on the last one. He also patted Grammy's arm after I showed him how, which was really sweet to see. Also, before church, I fed him carrots after his bottle, and he grabbed the spoon several times and tried to feed himself. Auntie A took some pictures-- I'll upload one soon and post it here. When she was little, she used to say, "I do it myself!" no matter what "it" was. Baby K seems to have inherited the same determination to be independent.

Baby K's First Baby Food Adventure

We were going to start cereal with Baby K at four months of age and veggies and fruits when he was six months. However, this week our pediatric gastroenterologist said that many babies with reflux have trouble with cereal, and she recommended skipping cereal and going right to fruits and vegetables. I was a little bored Saturday evening, and the big stash of baby food we have (thanks to the incredible Target/Gerber coupon from July!) was starting to break down what little patience I did have. So I got out a container of carrots and fed some to Baby K. As you can see in the top photo, Mommy and Daddy need to work on their feeding techniques. In the bottom photo, his face is cleaned up, but the carrot carnage is still visible on his bib. We knew he liked them, because he does not ever hesitate to inform us if something is displeasing to him! We put the leftovers in the fridge and got some out this evening after his last bottle. He eagerly sucked the puree up and cried when I wouldn't give him any more!

Today he's been a bit cranky. For some reason, Sundays are hard on him, and his daddy and I aren't quite sure why. Yes, his routine is interrupted, but no more than any other day when we go to playgroup or have a doctor's appointment. So we have yet to figure out what the difference with Sundays is. Any suggestions?

4 months old!

Today is Baby K's four-month birthday. At his checkup today, he weighed 13 lbs. 5 oz. and measured 24 and a half inches long. He cried when he got his four shots, but just minutes afterwards was smiling at me. He napped for about two hours when we got home, then woke up and was his regular self the rest of the evening. I'm sure the poor baby's legs will be sore tomorrow.

Sunday morning during church Baby K's daddy was leading singing. Baby K was sitting on my lap, and I took his hand and touched his foot with it. Suddenly, it was like a lightbulb went off, and he realized that that was his hand and his foot, and he's been grabbing for his feet since, even while the pediatrician was trying to examine him today. When he's not reaching his feet, his fingers are crammed into his mouth. Yesterday morning he was on his back on a blanket on the floor, sucking the middle two fingers on his left hand, and his right hand wandered up to his head and he felt his hair, and another lightbulb went off: he realized that was his hair he was touching with his hand, and he laid there sucking his fingers and rubbing his hair. It was absolutely adorable and Daddy was mad I didn't get a pic.

Full of Surprises

Baby K's daddy found this surprise in his breakfast skillet Saturday morning. He claims he didn't even try to make it look like that, that it just happened. What do you think?

Just when I think I have Baby K figured out-- how much he'll eat at each feeding, how long he'll nap for, how long he'll stay awake-- he goes and completely changes everything on me. A typical day:

7:30 a.m.: wake up, eat 6 oz.

8:45: down for nap

9:30: up, eat 2-4 oz.

10:45: eat 2-4 oz.

11: nap

12:30: up, eat 2-4 oz.

2:30: nap

4:15: up, eat 4 oz.

6:30: eat 4-6 oz.

7:30: bedtime

Yesterday and today? Not a thing like that usual routine. With the exception of two ten-minute snoozes, he stayed awake today from 10 to 1. When I put him in his papasan for his nap, he grinned so big at me that his pacifier fell out! I just left him in there and walked out and shut the door, and so far, not a peep out of him, so he's either asleep or amusing himself (not sure how, since he's swaddled).

We had our first playgroup today. At this point the playgroup is really more for me than him, since he's still so young. We went to the Watermelon Patch, where we'll be starting our play class on Tuesday. The other ladies seemed very nice, young like me, and were very friendly. Baby K mostly watched the kids playing-- he's the youngest-- and grinned every once in a while, especially at the little girls! We stayed for an hour, and I think he would have been happy staying longer, but he started looking sleepy; he'd close his eyes for just a second, then they'd fly open again and he'd look all around like, "I'm still awake, guys! No sleeping here!" It was really cute. They had a little trampoline, so when we first got there I held him under the arms and bounced him standing up on it, and he loved it.

Our little g!

Above is a picture of Baby K in his Hawaiian-print gDiaper. They're cloth diaper covers, with plastic liners and flushable inserts. Instead of the inserts, we use cotton prefold cloth diapers when we're at home. (We still use disposables at night and when we go out.) We're doing this mostly for financial reasons; although the environmental benefits are nice too, they're more lagniappe for us than necessity.

As you can see, Baby K is holding his head up very well. He doesn't spend much time on his tummy due to his acid reflux-- as soon as we flip him over, he spits up about 90% of the time. He'll support himself on his arms when he's on his changing pad (it's at an angle, to help his reflux), but he won't very often when he's flat on his tummy, say, on the floor.

Thursday he held his bottle steadily for thirty seconds. He also began trying to roll his "r's" without any prompting from me. I've been trying to teach him that, because I'm using Spanish with him, and for about a week he would try to roll his r's when I did it first. Thursday was the first day he looked straight at me and started to roll his tongue before I did.

He has been trying SO hard to talk to us. He looks right at us and begins "chatting." Grammy and Grandma have both heard him by phone, and Grandpa (Grammy's husband, my dad) asked tonight that the next time Baby K starts to talk, for me to call HIM so he can hear it. Last night Baby K had quite a conversation with the bathtub and his Bumbo seat.