My Four Month Old

My sweet Lucia is four months old today. She’s entering a very fun, very active stage. Four months ago, as I held my eight pound newborn, I couldn’t bear the thought of her getting any bigger or older. Now, as I hold my 15 pound infant, I’m starting to realize that I’m going to feel that way at every stage and every age. While I miss her being a tiny newborn, I wouldn’t want to miss seeing her grow and learn and interact with the world around her.

Last week, Lucia rolled over for the first time! She was in the middle of “tummy time” and just flipped. The expression on her face was priceless; she was both scared and confused, eyes wide and mouth open. I put her back on her stomach and she rolled over again right away (and was just as shocked the second time, poor thing!). I ran to get the video camera and of course, she didn’t roll over again. David was home and was able to see her roll over the second time. It has been such a blessing to have him home now that he’s finished his dissertation because he has been present for all of Lucia’s “firsts” and they’ve been able to spend a lot of father-daughter bonding time.

In the past week, there has been another big development: giggles! Lulu has been “laughing” for a while now, but her laughs were only distinguishable by David and I, to anyone else they would have seemed more like grunts. Now they sound like sweet little baby giggles. She is so sweet and smiley most of the time and giggles make her all the sweeter. In addition to giggles, she’s added razzing noises to her repertoire of shrieks and squeals. She even has a particular shriek that we have deemed the “pterodactyl”.

Up until the past few nights, Lucia was still falling asleep fairly easily and sleeping uninterrupted until the morning. But for about four nights now, she has had trouble falling asleep (we think it’s related to gas problems). And a couple nights she’s woken up a few times shortly after falling asleep. Once she is soundly asleep, she is still sleeping through the night. She is sleeping less and less during the day, but still takes about four naps a day. She still is all smiles (and now giggles) when she wakes up in the morning, but often wakes up from naps with a very frightened cry. It’s heartbreaking and I can only imagine that she’s having a terrible nightmare.

Lulu’s motor skills are developing quickly and she can easily pick up her toys and even pass them from one hand to another. She is such a cuddly little girl! She loves to snuggle into my neck (and pull me close to her by pulling my hair toward her with both hands). She will also pick up her toys and hug them, although she often prefers her burp cloths to toys. And she can play forever pulling her dresses or shirts up and down and sticking them in her mouth.

Lulu and I have continued to enjoy infant massage. I’ll take her diaper off, lay her on a few towels, then massage and play with her for quite a while. She absolutely loves her massages. She giggles and coos, she wiggles and moves. She is absolutely in her element, loving uninterrupted mommy time and all the skin-to-skin contact. When I’m done massaging her, I let her hang out naked on the towel for a while. She seems to really enjoy diaper-free time and I’m trying to learn her cues so we can start elimination communication. She’s sat a few times on her potty to get used to it and she seems to really enjoy sitting there (although still has no clue what it’s for).

Speaking of sitting, Lucia has been able to sit up on her own for a few seconds at a time before falling down. And she no longer falls over when propped up on the couch (or even in the rocking chair). Her favorite thing right now is to sit up and “read”, which usually means putting a cloth book on her face and then becoming aggravated because she can’t get it off! Her favorite book is her “Thank You Prayer Book”. She also really loves to have Daddy hold her up in the air so she can “fly” (although, really, anytime with Daddy is special).

Just started following?
To catch up on Lucia's monthly posts, click below:

I'm linking up with Try New Adventures Thursday at Alicia's Homemaking, because being the mom to a four month certainly is an adventure (and everything Lucia does is a huge adventure for her).  Head over to Alicia's Homemaking to see take a look at some other adventurous people (there are usually some awesome, adventurous recipes there).