Daniel - 4 months!

Daniel is 4 months old!












Monday, the 13th, Daniel turned 4 months old, and yesterday he had his 4 month well-check. Here are his stats:

Weight: 14lbs (32%)

Height:  24.5" (34%)

Head:  16.3"  (25%)

He's still a tiny little bugger, but he's in much higher percentiles than he was at birth, so technically, he's growing like a weed!! Look at it this way...at his last check up 2 1/2 months ago, he weighed 10.6 lbs. I think 3.4 lbs in 2 1/2 months ain't too shabby!

Here's what our little man is like at 4 months old:

• He can roll from his tummy-to-back AND back-to-tummy. I know, he's so awesome. ;)
• He babbles and coos a ton. He loves to be vocal and to talk to anyone who will listen...or even, sometimes, just to himself.
• He loves to be tickled and he loves to be scared. He's got such a sweet laugh.
• He loves to smile and he LOVES attention. A lot of the time he'll just cry so that you'll look at him and then once he sees you looking he'll get real excited and laugh and smile. In fact, the other day I had to eat my dinner while looking at him so he wouldn't cry. He's hilarious.
• He loves to grab things and stick them in his mouth. If you put it within his reach, it'll make it into his mouth.
• He has excellent head control and is so strong (always has been). I'm hoping he'll be sitting on his own at 5 months old just like Diana.
• He tried infant oatmeal for the first time a couple of weeks ago and....he hated it. Like, he gags like he's being tortured. SO, I don't feed him on a regular basis. In fact, he's only had a teeny bit about 4 times because I keep testing to see if he's changed his mind. Sunday night I tried it again for the 3rd time, but this time put applesauce in it, and he seemed to like it better, but not as much as when I gave him just applesauce. Its so funny, Diana was eating at 3 months and though she didn't take to rice cereal right away, she never, ever hated it as much as Daniel hates this oatmeal. It's so weird to me! I figured he was ready for food since he puts everything in his mouth, but apparently he needs some time to get used to the new texture, so I won't force him. When he's ready, he's ready, right?
• He loves his sister, Diana. I mean, loves her. The bond between siblings when they're infants always amazed me, and it still does. How that little person seems to know all these people around him every day belong to him. I know there's an easy explanation for it all, but it's amazing nonetheless.
• He LOVES his baths. We make a nightly routine with bath time, just as we've always done with Diana, and he absolutely loves it. In fact, if it gets near bath time and he's not being bathed, he'll get VERY cranky! Diana was the same way. Once he's in the bath, he'll splash and laugh and coo. He could be in there all night! I love that my children love this routine, because as long as they live with me, they're getting a daily bath! ;)
• He's pretty much in a set sleep pattern and I love it. He takes a couple power naps in the morning, and then takes a loooong 2-3 hour nap in the afternoon, at the same time that Diana naps. WOO HOO! Only problem is, sometimes Diana won't nap, so there goes any chance I had at having alone time. Lame. Anywho, back to Daniel...he also is sleeping better at nights. He still has his nights where he'll be up every 3 hours eating, but then he'll be good and do like he did the other day and sleep for 9 straight hours before waking up to eat! Because he loves me. His long stretches are usually 6-7 hours before the first nightly feeding, so the 9 hour one was shocking and amazing. Hopefully he'll discover that 9+ hour stretches of sleep are the way to go and I'll start getting a full night's rest again! We'll see.
• He's half morning-person, half not. The first half comes from his Dad and the second half comes from me. Some mornings he'll wake up happy and smiling and then other mornings he'll be the biggest grouch you ever met. The grouchy mornings I definitely feel his pain.
• He's a gassy little beast, but we all know where that comes from.
• He still has brown hair (well, what little hair he does have), and he still has gorgeous, big brown eyes!

I love my little man and am so very thankful every day that I get to have him in my life. He's a sweetheart and a huge blessing to our family. I love my Monkey!!