Four Months

Weight: 14 lbs, 0 oz.

Length: 25 in.

Some of Peter's current favorite things:

*Bicycling his legs non-stop

*Making gurgling noises

*Shoving his fists into his mouth until he gags

*Standing up on your lap

*Looking at any electronic screen (TV, phone, tablet, computer)

*Pulling my hair with his Hulk-like grip

*Peek-a-Boo (but only if there's nothing else more interesting to look at)

In early February, we used all of the disposable diapers that had been given to us so we decided it was time to try using cloth diapers (which had been my plan all along). We now use cloth exclusively and really love it! I'm going to be doing a post about cloth diapering  soon where I'll talk about the details and how we make it work. 

I didn't really notice it at the time, but something changed around the time Peter hit three months and nursing is suddenly much, much easier. Most nursing sessions last about 10-15 minutes and it requires basically no effort from me. I just lift my shirt and put him up to the source and he takes care of the rest. That may seem obvious to you, but it has not been this way all along. It used to take a great deal of effort on my part to get him to latch and to stay there. I've even recently found myself looking forward to feeding him, where it used to be something I almost dreaded. 

He's had rolling front to back mastered for quite a while now and he's SO close to rolling back to front, but he just doesn't know what to do with his arm, so he can't quite make it yet. He doesn't enjoy being on his back so I'm thinking he'll figure out the solution before too long. 

This has been kind of a weird month of sleep for Peter because of a cold and a growth spurt, but he's still doing really well overall. He's sleeping about 12 hours at night and is waking once or twice to feed during that time. We start his bedtime routine about 8:00 most nights and he still naps really well in the daytime. He sleeps in his crib all the time, including his 3-4 naps per day.

The major change I noticed this month was improvement in his hand control. He started to notice and play with toys for the first time and is able to hold onto his rattle and teething rings. We've been putting him in his Exersaucer bouncer and his Bumbo seat too, and he seems to really enjoy them both. I also discovered that his play mat has an elephant mobile that plays music, so he's been listening to that a lot lately. I'm thinking we probably need to get a mobile for his crib to occupy him when he's laying in there awake. He will happily play on his own for about 10-15 minutes at a time most days, which gives me time to step into another room to start a meal or take a shower.

He's still drooling and chewing on his hands and putting everything he can grab into his mouth, but he doesn't seem to be teething yet (or at least no teeth have popped through). He's not really very fussy and doesn't act like he's in pain, so I think it's more just that he's discovering the world around him through taste. 

I know it's a lot of pictures, but these two series of shots really crack me up as they are such an accurate depiction of how things go with him these days.

I love that he looks like he got caught chewing on Lambkins. That's a guilty face, for sure.

Highlights of his 4th month include:

* Attending his (and my) first wrestling meet

* Learning to squeal/screech like a pterodactyl 

* Grandma (Mereness) spending a week with us 

Peter continues to be a very happy, sociable guy. He seems more content at a group function (youth group, family game night, church nursery) than at home. He is really giggly and it's so much fun to discover new ways to make him laugh every day.