It seemed on the first day of Caroline's fourth month that she had changed dramatically. More content. More engaged. Just... oh, I don't know. She seemed more grown up! But still adorable baby all at the same time! We had her four month check up on Tuesday and after Dr. Shull joined us in the examining room she said "Don't you just love this age?" "Yes," we said. And then I said, "It seemed like she totally changed on Sunday." "In a good way, I hope." Dr. Shull replied. "Yes, in a good way."
Well, our girl has had much contentment and engaged time this week, but... she has been pretty fussy too. She's over her cold. Her cough was lingering earlier this week, but it seems totally gone now. So we're not exactly sure where the fussiness is coming from. I wonder sometimes if she's going to have lots of periods of significant frustration until she can talk and walk. She has so much energy and to be limited to sitting with support, lying on the ground, or being held... I think it is not enough for her. She LOVES it when we play bouncy games with her "Trot, trot to Boston...", when we lift her high in the air (great upper body workout, methinks), and she loves being walked and walked and walked... she really seems to like the baby bjorn. She rides around on daddy a lot these days. She likes to move. I was reading through old posts earlier this week and read about how I first really started to feel her moving in utero when we were in the car and how Kev thought we should get her a onesie that read "Keep on truckin'" Maybe...
Growth report- 13.8 pounds, 25 inches (or as a sweet daddy at church said last night- "You're 2'1", Caroline!" Indeed! 2 feet plus!), and her head... oh, I can't remember at the moment, but it is bigger... her weight is still in the 50th percentile, her length in the 75th percentile, and her head in the 75th percentile too. Her doc was pleased the height and head are in sync!
Caroline is super mobile on her back and on her belly. Twice today she rolled right over when I put her down for tummy time. And often, when on her back on her play mat she practically turns in circles. I pulled some big blankets out of her blanket bin so she will have a bigger area on which to move around.
On good nights, these days, Caroline is sleeping 3-4 hours blocks of time, eating for awhile, then sleeping for another solid block, about three of these. Sometimes she even sleeps longer. Sometimes though, she has trouble getting back to sleep. Earlier this week just before going to bed I read that parents should let babies fuss for 5-10 minutes before going to them in the night so that they learn to self-soothe and put themselves back to sleep. So the first time I heard her fuss in the night that night, I waited... and... she put herself back to sleep and slept for a few more hours. It hasn't worked since... but we're waiting now... 5-10 minutes every time. Usually she just wakes up more fully and then it takes longer to get her back to sleep. But we'll keep trying. I've been reading Brazelton's Touchpoints this week, thanks Abuelita! And I'm wondering if I should be concerned that she is so dependent on us to get back to sleep still. I don't know... I wish "The No Cry Sleep Solution" wasn't checked out and on hold at every library in town. I do think her fussiness, often, is about being overtired. So, for now... we'll keep with our full nighttime ritual- massage, stories and rocking with daddy, swaddling, singing/nursing/praying/rocking with me. And we'll keep letting her fuss a bit, but going to her at night. And we'll trust that loving her, loving her, loving her... is enough.
We are so grateful for the love of Kay, an adoptive grandmother to Caroline, if you will, a woman at church who cares for her first grandson (only 10 days or so older than Caroline) nearly every day. She took Caroline into her arms at the Maundy Thursday potluck at church last night and just loved her, loved her, loved her so mommy and daddy could eat before choir practice. She and Lisa, a woman awaiting the birth of her first grandchild, scrutinized her deciding which features were Kevin's and which were mine. They declare her a perfect blend of the two of us. That was nice to hear... the pediatrician declared her completely her daddy's girl, looking NOTHING like me at all. Having seen pics of Kev at four months recently... I think the pediatrician might be right. But Kay and Lisa are sure that she looks like both of us... whatever. She's gorgeous. She's Caroline Grace. She looks like Caroline. But again... we are so thankful for the love of Kay for Caroline. We're going to have to schedule a playdate with her grandson... maybe after mommy finishes her German exam.
It only took eighteen weeks, but... at least... video of our dear! From this very day! We have lots of old videos too, but... let's post timely ones, first, eh? I thought I'd post all three we took today, but... posting two is taking forever. So two it will be.
11 comments:
Oh My God, She is just so gorgeous! Everyone admired her four month old pictures this week at work, somebody said someting about waiting a long time and I said, "Yep, I have been waiting 32 years for her!" Love, Mamie
really, mom? you've been waiting 32 years to be a grandma? i'm not thinking about that yet... in this girl's first year.
I love her reaction in the first one: "Why are you people FILMING this instead of helping me with my VERY IMPORTANT TEETHING RING PROJECT?" Too cute.
(And thanks so much for the phone call!!! Will try to call later today, or next week if today gets out of hand...)
Yeah Sarah...I'm also not thinking about grandbabies in my baby's first year!
Mine is still (10 months) pretty dependent on us to sleep--or else I've learned to tune out the quiet whimpers that she can put herself back to sleep from. We have the monitor set pretty low so that we hear the big cries, but not every tiny noise.
Do you have an exersaucer? It still is supported sitting but it's more standing-like and you can put assorted toys on the tray. Ours loved it until she could pull herself to standing and cruise along the sides of things. She would bounce in it and twirl (the seat rotates). Now she only gets put in it if we need to keep her in one place while we tend to something else.
Oh my, Caroline is getting so grown up. The first year is amazing. Actually each year is.
I, too, love the look she throws Kevin. Kevin says SHE was busted, but I think it is HE who was busted.
I think some of her fussiness may be to the teething you mentioned earlier. There's a lot going on for her, even while she sleeps.
Love to all,
Aunt Debbie
Videos! Thank you.
I love this stage where they are learning that their hands do things and can make other things do things. Such wonder at tasks we take for granted....
so, so precious....love the videos....isn't it amazing how much/fast they grow? Enjoy it....
Thanks for the videos!
For the why's, we liked "Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child" by Weissbluth (and ignored all of the crying-it-out stuff). For the how's, we liked Pantley's "No Cry Sleep Solution." They do it eventually, so enjoy every twilight moment and snuggle! Sounds to me like she's doing great!
I meant to ask you... have you tried a pacifier with her (now that bfeeding is well established)? It always helped with both of our boys with soothing and settling and getting to sleep. Of course, Lucas is STILL hooked on the paci because we never set good boundaries with it (but have been doing so now), so we're better about it with Jesse. Every now and then we fall into the wake-up-pop-paci-back-in-mouth routine but they're always short-lived and the boys learned to soothe themselves back down in no time.
so far she is rarely interested in the pacifier... unless she's already wide awake and quite content... we probably need to try some other models than the nuks. she likes sucking fingers (ours), or boob.
she does seem to be discovering her thumb, but doesn't really use it to self soothe yet. when we try to encourage this along she is less than interested.
thanks though!
Somewhere I read said try the "soothie" brand pacifier and so that's what we have. Mine wasn't really into the pacifier either, but sometimes it would help her soothe to go to sleep, but as soon as she was asleep, she'd spit it out and never woke up crying for it.
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