Four Months with Alvie Bean

• Amy Cissell
• August 8, 2012
• Oh, Baby!
• 429

Dear Alvie –

Today you are four months old! You are such a big boy. You are now a professional roller over and can roll effortlessly from back to front and front to back. You love lying on the floor and just rolling. Every time you return to your back, your head thunks the floor a little, and you giggle. I am concerned that you think head bumping is funny, but I guess it’s better than crying, right?

You’ve started to roll in your sleep, too, and seem to generally prefer being a tummy sleeper. Mommy prefers being a tummy sleeper, too, and can’t WAIT until that’s comfortable again.  I try to roll you onto your back when you’re sleeping, but it’s generally ineffective. Also, when you’re on your tummy, you sleep on the right side of your head – which is great because the left side of your head is a wee bit flat. In fact, we’re going to see a specialist about that soon and you might have to wear a funny helmet! So – continue to sleep on that other side!

You also love sitting up and get frustrated that you can’t do it by yourself. So, we bought you a chair, and you love it. There are toys to spin and rattle and it’s awesome. You also love sitting on the sofa next to daddy and will often reach up and pat him on the arm if you don’t think he’s completely focused on you. Melts my heart every time. We finally found a baby carrier that you like, and now you and daddy can hang out in the basement and look at the model trains. You are getting so strong – your head barely wobbles now – and you will be sitting on your own in no time. You love being held up with nothing more than a couple of fingers. You also love tipping over into the pillows. And I love hearing you laugh.

 

You had a rough weekend last weekend. You weren’t feeling so hot leading up to it. Low fever, runny nose, and enough saliva to float a ship. And then, to top it all off, I took you to the doctor for your 4-month check-up and immunizations. You had a fantastic time at the doctor’s office. You got to be naked (oh, how you love being naked) and there were new things to play with. The new thing was the paper covering the exam table, but you didn’t care. It was noisy AND it could go in your mouth. What more could a baby want?

You kept trying to roll over on the exam table, which was an impressive showing of your skills, but a not-so-impressive display of intelligence and cause and effect. We’ll let it go for now, since you are only a tiny-ish baby.

Friday night was rough. No one got much sleep, and it breaks my heart to listen to you cry. I am so incredibly pro-immunization and it makes me angry that people out there think that they don’t need to vaccinate because everyone else does, and that there are enough people out there who believe that that there are currently outbreaks of pertussis in our area. The herd protections should only be for people who cannot be vaccinated for various reasons. Not for those who choose not to because they think Jenny McCarthy knows more about science that the American Pediatric Association. ANYWAY – tangent! And I’m back with 30% less righteous anger. So, it sucks to watch you suffer for 24 hours as your body processes all the new stuff that was injected into you, but I think it would much, much worse if you got rotavirus, or measles, or polio, or whooping cough. So, we suffer together for one day, and then you’re back, as cheerful as ever, and ready to start moving again.

 

You’ve become so alert and aware of your environment in the last month, and are constantly distracted when eating by kitties! or daddy! or the way the light is shining on that wall! You’ve started to look at the pictures during story time, and get impatient if I don’t turn the pages fast enough and reach out to turn them yourself. You are quite the talker! So many sounds! You love when I blow raspberries at you, and try to hard to imitate me. You love people, especially other small people. Your favorite days at the nanny are when the other kids are there – they’re walking, and that’s just so cool! This Friday, you’re getting to hang out with your two best girls. E- who is three months old TODAY! And Tiny P who is 16 days old today. Their moms are awesome, and it’s so nice to have built in playmates.

This last month was quite the adjustment and there were a lot of breaks in routine. We got used to going to the nanny, having mommy go to work, and sleeping in mommy’s & daddy’s room again, because it is about 15 degrees hotter in your room than in ours.

Tomorrow, grandma gets here and she’s going to be so excited to see you! The last time grandma got to hold you, you were only one month old. Now you’re FOUR! She’s going to be so surprised at how big you are.

 

I love you so much little guy. I had so much trouble imagining what life would be like with a baby, but now I can’t imagine my life without you. You are awesome.

Love,

Mama

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