A Letter to Carter at 4 Months

Last month was such a fun month and I enjoyed how social you had become.  You are even more social now and this month has been even better!  You smile pretty much anytime you look at me.  You also track my voice.  As I walk in a room you look for me when you hear my voice and turn your head to follow me as I walk around.  You also love the sound of daddy’s voice.  When he and I are talking it’s like you are part of the conversation because you look at him when he’s talking and then turn to look at me when I talk, going back and forth!

You are still working on laughing.  I can’t believe you haven’t laughed yet because you’ve been trying for so long.  Now when you do your big open mouthed smile sometimes a little squeal comes out so I just know laughing is in our near future!

Sleeping is still going really well.  Most nights you sleep all the way until 5 or 6 in the morning, but sometimes you wake up to eat around 3 am.  I was excited when you slept for a 7 hour stretch, but now you can go for 10 hours at a time!  You are so good at self-soothing.  We put you to bed awake and you suck your hand and rub the top of your head to put yourself to sleep.  Every once in a while you even get your thumb!

Our doctor told us we could start you on solid foods at our appointment on Friday.  He suggested starting with vegetables.  At first I freaked out a little bit inside and didn’t think I was ready.  Honestly, I love nursing you and would love to keep you as a baby for as long as possible.  Sometimes, actually every single day, I just feel like I’m not quite ready for you to grow up!  The more I thought about it, the more excited I got about trying it.  Although I secretly hoped you would either reject the spoon or wouldn’t like the food and would spit it out.  You didn’t.  You loved it!  When we would re-fill the spoon with food you would cry because you wanted more.  We gave you sweet potatoes and you loved them just as much as I do!  Once I realized how much fun it was to feed you and that you would still nurse afterward, I didn’t feel sad about it anymore.

We have a pretty good routine down in the mornings when I drop you off.  Sometimes I stay a bit longer than I should, but usually I try to make it quick otherwise it’s really hard for me to leave.  There’s a little girl in your class who’s a few months older than you.  She loves to blow you kisses when we arrive in the morning and she blows you kisses when we leave at the end of the day. 

Your favorite things at daycare are smiling at Ms. Tracie (she says you are such a good boy!), sitting in the rocking chair they can snap you into, and laying on the circle mat that is surrounded by triangles with mirrors on them.  You are not a fan of lying in your crib at all!  I guess you know your great grandpa Cox didn’t make that one because you love your crib at home!

Your favorite things at home are smiling and talking with me and daddy, watching Harper, reading books (especially the touch and feel books), lying on your activity gym, and being rolled around in your bassinet (well, Hayden’s bassinet that we borrowed).  Some days you seem to enjoy being outside because we walk around and I rub your hand on things so you can feel them.

You still hate tummy time.  The doctor said it’s because you don’t do it enough and we need to do it more to get you used to it.  It’s so hard though because it kills me to let you cry.  I usually only have you do it for a few minutes if you cry.  I’ve found if I lie down next to you on the floor and talk to you, it goes much better.

Today I got out your Jumperoo and put it together.  It was so much fun to watch you in it.  Your feet just barely touch the ground and you were actually bouncing up and down in it some!  You loved all the toys and music.  I know you will enjoy it even more as you get older.  After a while you were ready to get out because your neck was tired.

When you take a bath it’s almost as though you understand next comes food and then bed because you always calm down when you get in the bath.  This month I started giving you showers.  It’s really nice because I take a shower and then daddy brings you in and I wash you up.  We usually do a shower bath when you get a full soap down because it’s easier to rinse all the soap off that way.

You are quite the running boy.  I take you running with me every day after I pick you up from daycare.  You have also run a 5K with me and one with your Grampy.  Last weekend you got to watch your daddy run a 5K and then me run a 10K.

At your doctor’s appointment you got your second round of shots.  You were a lot more upset than last time and it was harder for me to keep from crying along with you.  I held your hands and talked to you the whole time.  When the nurse was done I held you and rocked you and you calmed down.  The minute I put you in your car seat you started going at it again.  Once we started driving you fell asleep and you were fine the rest of the day.  You are now 14 pounds, 8 ounces which is the 47^th percentile and you are 26 inches long which is the 87^th percentile!  I guess you could be considered long and lean?  I can’t believe it with those chubby thighs of yours!

You are now in size 2 diapers.  Your clothing size is a bit all over the place.  You have one 0-3 month outfit that still fits, but have outgrown some of your 3 month clothes.  Your jammies are all 3 month size and they are quite snug!  You fit the best in 3-6 month clothes.  You must have a really long torso and long arms because a lot of your onesies have turned into ¾ sleeves!  For that reason you are now in 6-9 month Gerber long sleeved white onesies.  Our favorite outfit is your blue plaid overalls you got from Great Grandma and Grandpa Cox.  You are so adorable in them you melt my heart!

You just got your first cold.  It breaks my heart to hear you so congested and coughing, but you don’t let it slow you down a bit!  If it weren’t for the coughing no one else would even know you’re sick because you don’t fuss or complain about it at all.

You really are the best baby!  You are so easy going and sweet.  I love you so much!  Tonight when I first put you down to bed you were upset and crying.  I went in to check on you and when you looked up at me you smiled in between cries.  

No matter how stressful my morning is, when I pick you up and hold you in my arms at lunchtime, it all falls away. I’m the happiest when I’m with you and there is nothing in this world I’d rather do than spend time with you (and your daddy of course)!  I’m going to pass the computer to your daddy and let him talk about how amazing you are for a little while!

Just this Saturday I woke up to some gentle kicks to the ribs. I open my eyes to find you sleeping between us, kicking every once in a while in your sleep. It cracks me up how much you move around in your sleep.

Every day I can see the progress you are making on being in control of your body. Soon you will have mastered the control of those hands and you will be into everything! Today you and I got to sit outside on the patio while mom ran. You sat there on my lap, just taking in the sights and sounds. I absolutely loved it!

Soon you will be laughing and I feel like once you figure it out, you will be laughing all of the time. You are such a happy boy and I love it!