(Lincoln 4 Months, Caroline 4 Months)

Finnegan had his 4-month checkup today on his actual fourth monthday. The nurse asked if I had a guess on his weight, and I said “Oh geeze, he’s really chubby. Probably 18 pounds.” Then I sat him on the scale and it said…exactly 18 pounds. That’s almost four pounds more than his 2-month check-up. He’s not technically off the charts yet and still on the normal curve considering he was huge at birth too, but he’s only average for height so the chunk is real. He comes by it honestly too, because he nurses so much. SO MUCH.

The combination of cold weather, his tendency to spit up after eating, and a 2-year-old brother who often runs away in public means poor Finn doesn’t get out as much as I would like. We’re homebodies right now. Pretty soon we’ll master nursing while babywearing (he just needs to be a tiny bit taller) and hopefully he won’t throw up on my so often and then we’ll go on a lot more adventures. For now most of his social life is his siblings and trips to Target. Which is most of MY social life as well.

Finn is wearing size 3 diapers but when this box runs out we’ll buy size 4s. He’s far too big for any 3 months clothes and almost too big for 6 month clothes. Most of his pajamas are actually 12-18 month sized because we roll the cuffs. His head is also too big for all the cute baby hats I bought so he got a nice new toddler sized winter hat from his sister for Christmas. He’s tall enough now that his feet touch the bottom of the Circle of Neglect (aka the exersaucer) flatly, so he’s started to spin himself around a little bit. It’s such a nice baby holding device when I am simply no longer capable of holding him myself. Not that I might holding him most of the time. The days when he just wants to nurse and sleep and nurse and I can sit on the couch without feeling any guilt for not getting house stuff done is going to end sooner rather than later.

He’s my last baby, and as last babies go, he’s doing an excellent job of making me both love having a baby and also being glad I won’t ever have to go through all the newborn stuff again.

Likes: Biting things, music, tickles, cuddles, smiling, meeting new people, nursies, his siblings, mommy, daddy, the baby swing, being awake at night, socks, being carried around everywhere, the exersaucer, his blankie, standing up.

Dislikes: Shots, teething, bad dreams, being alone.

The band-aids are from today’s shots, which happened only an hour before the photos so I didn’t want to yank them off. Besides, they match his 4 month sticker! The ankle marks are because his legs are too chubby for 2T socks.

4 Month Milestones 

Mastered Skills (most kids can do)
Smiles, laughs – He loves to do both
Can bear weight on legs – One of his favorite activities
Coos when you talk to him – He’s very vocal when he’s happy, lots of squealing

Emerging Skills (half of kids can do)
Can grasp a toy – Yes, but often drops them. He’s working towards being able to hold things in his mouth.
Rolls over, from tummy to back – Yes, pretty reliably now

Advanced Skills (a few kids can do)
Imitates sounds: “baba,” “dada” – No, just coos and giggles and loud noises
Cuts first tooth – TWO BOTTOM TEETH. But how is this a skill?
May be ready for solid foods – No one advises solids at 4 months anymore. He’s all milk.

I accidentally ruined Caroline’s 10 month photoshoot today. Instead of taking pictures during the middle of the afternoon when the light in the family room is best, I let her fall asleep in my lap while she was nursing and spent two hours petting her hair, sniffing the top of her head, listening to her tiny baby noises and watching her twitch as she dreamed.

So maybe “ruined” is the wrong word. Maybe “soaked up two magical hours worth of baby moments that hardly ever seem to happen anymore because she is growing up so fast” is more accurate. I love her bunches and bunches. It’s sort of disgusting.

I had to look back at the 9 month update to see if I was remembering things wrong or if she really has changed SO MUCH in just four weeks. In those pictures, you can just barely see one top tooth peeking through. Now she’s got two great big giant chompers on top plus two on the bottom and a handful more threatening to pop through any minute. Isn’t it crazy how much older babies look with teeth? SO MUCH OLDER!

She’s also walking, without encouragement, on almost any surface. She ran away from me during Stroller Strides this week and I had a “oh no, I lost the baby” moment. She was only 5 feet away behind a mom doing sit ups, but she’s so little she’s easy to lose. I’m going to have to work on the constant vigilance.

I’ve given up on super cute outfits, because between the crawling/walking, the drooling/teething and the constant shoving of food into her mouth she’s a mess. I change her shirt at least 3 times a day. And before you call me an idiot and suggest I use one of the five bazillion bibs I keep in the kitchen drawer I’ll tell you she feels about bibs the way Dora feels about using her inside voice. NOT GONNA HAPPEN. It’s easier to just buy stain remover in bulk.

There is not one thing about her I would change. I TOLD you it was disgusting.

Likes include her blankies (any of them), iPhones, popcorn, apples, boobs, her brother’s sippy cup, dancing, walking, smiling, blowing raspberries, peek-a-boo, books, baths, her mama and putting gross things in her mouth.

Dislikes include teething, hoods, falling on her face, being cold, missing naps, strange dogs and having her nails trimmed.

Milestones plus video proof of the walking/weird crawling below the epic number of underexposed pictures.

I see you

raspberries

This is a crap ton of orange, Mom

tippy toes

Happy 10 Months Baby Girl

P.S. Yes I am wearing leggings as pants in the video. In my defense…ah screw it. I have no defense. They’re SO COMFORTABLE.
10 Month Milestones (from BabyCenter, as usual)

Mastered Skills (most kids can do)
Waves goodbye – Yes. And hello. And loves to clap. And plays peek-a-boo and “how big is the baby?” and understands what I think is a surprising number of words. But I’m her mom so I have to think she’s a genius.
Picks things up with pincer grasp – As long as it’s food. Or trash.
Crawls well, with belly off the ground – She’s actually terrible at that. She crawls sideways on one leg. But since she’s, you know, WALKING I don’t think she’s actually missing this milestone.

Emerging Skills (half of kids can do)
Says “mama” or “dada” to the correct parent – She has said “mama” to me exactly twice, but not regularly, and I’ve never heard her say “dada”.
Indicates wants with gestures – Gestures, screeching, grabbing things. She has a lot of wants.

Advanced Skills (a few kids can do)
Stands alone for a couple of seconds – For a couple minutes.
Puts objects into a container – Does “food into her mouth” count? Because she’s good at that. Mostly she’s good at taking objects OUT of containers to make the biggest mess possible.

So in the excitement of yesterday and this weekend (no not THAT excitement, although if you’re as sick of hearing about it as I am definitely read this), I almost forgot Baby Evan’s monthday is today! 16 months doesn’t sound like anything special but for me it’s getting way too close to 18 months, which is a year and a half. And when he’s a year and a half he’ll be closer to 2 than 1 and my heart might break into a zillion teeny tiny pieces because I will definitely have to stop calling Baby Evan Baby Evan. I’m actually sort of glad I’ve got a new baby to ease the pain of watching my firstborn turn into such a PERSON.

Examples of personhood include: following directions more often than not, FINALLY signing “more” when he wants more and then pointing at the specific thing he wants more of, turning the pages of books as I read them, giving bedtime hugs and kisses and then requesting to be put in the crib and left alone to sleep, and clapping along with any and all applause on the television. Oh yeah, and running/climbing/dancing/grabbing/all manner of other child-like behaviors I swear he couldn’t do yesterday. Someone tell me he’s going to slow down soon – at this rate he’s going to be doing long division and competing in Olympic sports by the time he’s 6.

Time for some arbitrary and mostly meaningless milestones!

16 month milestone from Baby Center

Mastered Skills (most kids can do)
• Turns the pages of a book – Yes, although this isn’t always a good thing since he gets bored with more than about four words per page and starts flipping to the end after a few seconds. I have no idea what happens in the middle of Pigs Aplenty, Pigs Galore. I’m assuming it involves pigs.
• Has temper tantrums when frustrated – Oh. Ha. Yes. Complete with thrashing, screaming and banging his head against the hardest object in the room. What a fun milestone.
• Becomes attached to a soft toy or other object – He has a blankie he sleeps with (and an identical extra blankie in case something happens to the first one)(both knit by his grandmother because she is awesome) and he definitely loves that blankie more than he loves other blankies…but I don’t think I would say he’s “attached”. Also, despite my best efforts he has no real interest in the bear I made him. Who, for the record, has a head now.

Emerging Skills (half of kids can do)
• Discovers the joy of climbing – So far, he likes climbing on and off the couch SO MUCH he hasn’t yet tried to climb anything especially dangerous. Plus he doesn’t really need to since he’s TALL ENOUGH TO REACH THE COUNTERS. Ack.
• Stacks three blocks – No, but he can knock down ALL of them.
• Uses spoon or fork – I’m not sure I’d call his utensil skills good enough for public viewing but we use them at home. He’s actually better with a fork than a spoon and really enjoys it.
• Learns the correct way to use common objects (e.g., the telephone) – Yes, definitely, and he’s becoming a better mimic every day. It’s adorable.

Advanced Skills (a few kids can do)
• Takes off one piece of clothing by himself – Does a diaper count? I’m pretty sure every kid this age has done that at least once, which I wouldn’t really call “advanced.”
• Gets finicky about food – He’s always been finicky about food. Right now he’s eating mainly animal crackers and mini bagels, but he FINALLY decided he likes whole milk so I’m hoping the weight check this month will still be good.
• Switches from two naps to one – How is this a milestone? For us it was a schedule thing – back when we first started doing Stroller Strides and Baby Signs and fourbazillionty other morning activities Baby Evan switched to just one mid-day nap. Luckily that noontime nap usually lasts at least two hours and can be moved successfully from the car to the crib most days if we’re running late. But I am already dreading the day he goes to NO nap. I’m not letting that happen until he’s in full-day kindergarten.

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