September 5th--Four Months...

Dear Baby Boy,

Has it really been four months already? I cannot believe how the days blur together and have brought us here to this point. At this moment you are downstairs cuddling with Daddy. You’ve had a very sleepy day because you are smack dab in the middle of some kind of superhuman growth spurt. We took you to the National Zoo today and you slept through the entire thing. Grampy Schuster says when you wake up tomorrow you’ll be walking and doing your own laundry. And while Mommy would love the extra help with the housework, I can’t help but be happy that tomorrow you will still be my little baby boy, because I am starting to realize just how fast the time is flying.



Man, are you two shopping again? I'm just going to kick back and snooze.

This month it is all about the mouth. Yours, that is. It’s been busy, that’s for sure. It has been making a lot more noise and has been mighty curious about everything around it. You are showing all the classic signs of the first stages of teething—drool that will not quit (if baby drool was of value in any way, we would be rich, I tell you, rich!!), an intense, almost desperate need to suck and “chew” on your fingers, or mine if they are available, and an ability to be soothed at times only by something coooooold on your gums. It blows me away that at some point, a little white tooth is going to pop out of those perfectly pink little gums of yours!


Daddy, you're funny...looking!

You have also been experimenting with sounds this month—you’re making a lot of them. Coo’ing sounds, a-coo’ing sounds (apparently that “a” sound at the beginning is very important, so thank goodness you’re making it!) and chuckling throaty giggles compete for “airtime” and you’ve developed one particular cry that Daddy and I can’t help but smile at. When you are not really hurting or in need of anything, but are Mr. McGrumpstein, for no apparent reason, you pout your lip and literally say “wah” at us in the snootiest little tone. Just once. As if to say, “Really, people. I’m pissed. You’d better fix it. Now.” All that accomplished with just one, “Wah” and a pouty bottom lip. I could eat you up.


How you doin'?

Your hands are another area of great development this month. You’ve decided that when they aren’t in your mouth, or gripping my hands to shove them in your mouth, they should be exploring the world around them. This has led you to finally grasping at objects—particularly rings on your play mat. I loved the look of “what the hell did I just do??!!” the first time you actually got your fingers closed around the ring. After mastering the ring-grab, you decided to move on to your crinkly fabric books. You can’t get enough of those and apparently they taste pretty good, too.


Hello, you delectable, crinkly book. I will look at your shiny parts; then I will eat.

Aside from Mommy and Daddy, the one true love of your life right now is the lamb-y mobile above your crib. I know, without fail, I can put you in your crib for 5-10 minutes, crank that sucker up and you will watch the fluffy little guys dance round and round and play their tinkling little song and you will babble away happily until they stop spinning. There really isn’t anything else you own that makes you as happy as that mobile at this point. I love to watch your smile when it comes into view—it’s like you’re recognizing friends.


Penny is starting to realize that you're not going away. She's not too thrilled.

You’ve been around a lot more people this month, too! Mommy and Daddy went out to celebrate their first anniversary at a real restaurant, wearing real clothes and ordering real wine! This means you got to hang out for the evening with your first babysitters, our friends Chrisanne and Jason. Fortunately for them you were feeling mellow and sleepy that evening and didn’t give them a hard time at all. We also spent time with our friends Jamie and Veronica and their little girl, Chloe—you two have shared Chloe’s pack and play, and this month you shared play mats as well, with great success. Mommy and Daddy have taken you out to dinner with them several times now and each time you give us a little bit of time to relax and eat before you NEEEEEEED to be held.


Ethan and Chloe digging the play mat scene...

Last week I went to a mother’s group at the hospital where you were born. You were the oldest baby there and you were such a champ! It was the first time you were around so many people and you were just fascinated to look at all the other faces and listen to all the other sounds in the room. Seeing the other moms with their teeny tiny newborns made me realize just how far we’ve come.

Daddy went away on his first business trip this month, so you and I got to spend some serious quality time together. We generally spend our days together, but when 6pm rolls around and Daddy comes down the stairs from his office, it’s “Daddy time!!” from then until bed. But for 48 hours this month, it was all Mommy, all the time. I have to admit, I was a little nervous about doing the whole parenting thing all on my own for 2 days straight, but you picked those 2 days to be the best little boy in the world and we got through it without any stress at all. Thanks for looking out for your mom. I owe you one.


Hey, who's that handsome guy in the mirror?!

You did, however, give me quite a bit of grief just this past weekend when you decided for 24 hours that the boob just wasn’t your thang. Yes, my dear boy, you pulled a good old-fashioned nursing strike and threw your mother into a tizzy the likes of which few have ever seen. From 5am Saturday until 5am Sunday, almost exactly 24 hours, you acted like my boobs were kryptonite to your Superbaby super powers. There was screaming. There was twisting and arching. There were all KINDS of protestations at the mere indication that a boob might be within nursing range. Fortunately this inexplicable phenomenon only lasted 24 hours and by 5am Sunday morning, you were once again a milkshake lovin’ fool. Thank god. Don’t do that again. Mommy doesn’t need more grey hair. When you’re older she’s going to want people to believe that she had you at a very young age, and all that grey ain’t going to help…

You still look so much like Daddy, but some people are finally starting to say they see me in there somewhere as well. We were shopping for clothes the other day and a woman stopped us just to tell us how beautiful you are. We know. J Your eye lashes are still a mile long and your eyes have parked at this beautiful grey color. Your smile is to die for; even when you are sucking on your pacifier, your smile is so clear through your eyes. It’s just too much! We’re still waiting for your hair to fill in beyond the patches that you were born with. Of course, those patches continue to grow, so you have some serious bangs going right now, but not a lot on the sides. I wonder if the cute, too-young-to-practice-medicine doctor will spike your hair back up again at your appointment next week. .


Just try to resist me. You can't.

Today we got you a new play mat, complete with brighter colors and more hanging, squeaking things. You managed to be fascinated for an entire 30 minutes while we ate dinner with Grammy and Grampy Schuster. This was after the deep naps you take with your growth spurts and I couldn’t wait to see what you would be trying to do once you woke up. Sure enough, aside from more pronounced giggles and grabbing at objects, you have decided to start trying to roll again. There have been no rolls since the first one mentioned last month, but this evening you rolled from belly to back without even really trying and then you set to work at trying to roll from back to belly. So far you are only getting up on your side, but I can’t wait until tomorrow to see what kind of progress you make. I love watching the concentration on your face as you try to figure out which arm moves with which leg to make things work.


Mr. Tummy Time--he drools, he rolls, he looks too cute to be real!


Little man, you are the love of my life. Sometimes just looking at you takes my breath away completely and I cannot remember a world in which you didn’t exist. Each day brings some new experience or discovery. The month ahead of us holds all kinds of adventures—your 4 month check up, our Mommy and Me yoga class, more outdoor time as the weather starts to cool down enough to be outside without melting into little puddles of ick. I can’t wait to see what I have to say about September when our next monthly check in comes along. I love you to itty bitty pieces, my prince.

Love, Mommy