Tuesday, July 22, 2008

Four months adjusted!

Today is four months past Carter's due date, and so he is officially four months old. I don't really think of him as his actual age these days; he's right on par for development as a four-month-old and I got tired of always doing the subtraction in my head. So despite the fact that he was born in January, to me he's four months old. It's just easier that way.

Anyway, today he tipped the scales at exactly 15 pounds. He literally tipped the scale, too -- he's not going to fit on our rented scale much longer. (I don't need it any more, so it's a good reason to take it back.) But 15 pounds really feels like a milestone to me, for some reason. Sometimes I look at Carter and he looks so enormous to me, so long and chunky and big. And then I see other people holding him and I realize that he's still very small. It's odd.

He was 23.25 inches long at his last doctor's visit, so as you can imagine he's a fairly sturdy baby. We went to a playgroup yesterday where there were about 8 other babies all between the ages of 3 and 7 months, and he was definitely the chunkiest of the bunch. The other babies all looked so petite and lean in comparison. It's interesting that no one can tell he was a preemie just by looking at him. Every now and then when I tell people how small he was when he was born, they look completely stunned.

We put all the babies on the floor on their tummies, and he was the only one who couldn't hold his head up yet. He just hasn't figured out how to get his arms underneath him to push himself up. When I try to put his arms under him to show him how, he just flings them out to the side again. He was definitely looking at the others, so maybe he'll get some ideas, heh. He's getting more and more tolerant of tummy time, but spends it mostly trying to turn over. He gets his little knees up under him and can scoot himself forward quite a bit. I'm starting to wonder if he'll ever just enjoy being on his tummy. Once he can hold his head up, I think he'll feel differently about it.

He's also working very hard on sitting. He can sit with minimal support now, and seems to like it a lot. He's will strain up when leaning back against one of us now, and really prefers to be sitting. I need to get a video of him sitting and just holding my fingers. He looks so cute sitting like that!

I have some videos to show some of the other stuff he's started to do lately. The first one is a little dark, but it shows him sucking his thumb, something he really likes to do these days. He sucks on other fingers too, but his thumb is his favorite. He also likes to suck his thumb while nursing, which usually results in a big mess.



He's recently started blowing bubbles and making wet raspberry sounds. It's funny how entertaining that seems to be. He really like it when I do it back to him, though I'm not as good at it. (I think teeth get in the way.) But it's so sweet: every now and then he'll look up at me and smile and blow bubbles, and then I'll do it back, and we'll go back and forth that way for a while. It feels like we're talking to each other, which is just awesome.



And finally, here is a short video showing him laughing. I took it with my phone and the sound isn't the best, so I'm not sure you can hear it very well. It's so cute to hear him laugh, though.



That's all for now. :-D

3 comments:

wklovelace said...

So cute... My grandson sooo hates tummy time that it has caused him problems. He has never gained much arm streagth and although he can hold up his head and such he does not have enough streagth to hold his head up and crawl. Of course he had a throw-up issue as well and whenever he gets mad (tummy time!) he would throw-up. He is now going to rehab to build his arm streagth. He loves to hold your hands and walk, which kills the back. Walking wings helps with that and it has been great for helping with balance. So, keep up the good work on tummy time.

Debby said...

Wow... I cant' beleive how big he is..I really want to get my hands on him. He looks so big in the high chair. Please take a movie showing him sitting or standing. Nana would love to see that!!!! Love you all, Nana B

Anonymous said...

Ahhh! I remember the raspberry phase! That was so much fun. It's so cute how they take delight in all the fun noises they can make.

I can hardly believe Carter is sitting up! He's growing up so fast. I want to see him again soon!