My 4 Month Old Baby

You’re 4 months old my baby! Your parents here tried to celebrate this milestone (on 2 Feb) with you by singing you Happy Birthday but we couldn’t quite coordinate and only got our pitch and timing right on the 3rd try. A choir, we are not. But I think you didn’t mind anyway.

This month has simply flown by! With Chinese New Year following so closely after Christmas, it was upon us before we knew it. In the process, you’ve grown as well, almost imperceptibly for me, though it becomes all too clear when I look back during these monthly updates.

This month you delighted us with your giggles, which are still freely forthcoming. I glad we managed to capture it on video that day at the Botanics. Your Daddy regards that as one of his happiest days of fatherhood, you know. We still haven’t figured out what you find so funny about Peekaboo, but the more of a shock/surprise you get, the louder you laugh. It’s just too cute.

Recently there have been times when you’ve also burst out in giggles when either your Daddy or I pretend to laugh. Which of course, makes us laugh for real. We again have have no idea what you find so funny but we’re all too happy to laugh along with you.

You love to stand up, bearing your weight on your legs though obviously you can’t hold your body upright. In fact, you started to do this last month. It’s really rather tiring holding you in a standing position but you always clamour to be held thus. And Mummy here does it to humour you cos you get sooo excited and start “dancing”. I’m really keen to get you a Jumperoo as a result.

You really love the mirror and will smile and flap away excitedly at the Baby in the Mirror. One of my favourite positions is sitting at the foot of my bed facing our full-length wardrobe mirror with you on my knee. Hours (okay, more like minutes) of entertainment for you with minimal effort from me. If only you’ll stop wriggling down off my lap to stand…

Since that first time, you do occasionally flip from your back unto your tummy, you haven’t figured out how to flip back yet. Combined with the mirror to distract you however, you’re much more amenable to tummy time and would stay in position for a wee bit longer before yelling for help.

You’ve started to show an interest in real food other than your milk and we would catch you staring whenever we sit you near the dinner table when we have our meals. I think you’ll like solids but you still have another 2 months to go before that!

You’re also starting to make funny smacking sounds with your lips, sucking them in, and also blowing out bubbles of saliva. The latter is really messy. Add to that the fact that you’re drooling a lot these days, Mummy has started making you wear a bib on a more regular basis to save your clothes (and mine). You seem to think it’s a good idea and the bib has doubled up as something for you to munch on.

Daddy keeps wondering if you’re teething but I certainly hope not!

You’ve discovered your feet and routinely reach for them when you’re on your back or whenever they’re in view. You haven’t tried to put your toes in your mouth though. I’ve been more careful with you and your flexibility since that one time when I touched your toes to your head, telling your Dad that “all babies can do it”, and you started whimpering. Oops.

Sadly since that one time you slept through the night, you’ve not repeated that feat. You now conk off earlier than you used to at around 10.30pm which is good, but you’ve become more fitful in your sleep, waking up 2 and sometimes even 3 times in the night. And it’s getting a bit harder to put you down. Ack. I’m now on a mission to regulate that by reducing your afternoon naps, but the problem is I’m pretty wiped out by your night wakings and am loathe to forfeit the longer stretches of uninterrupted sleep in the afternoons. I think I’ll bite the bullet on this one.

Mummy’s kinda sad that it’s February cos it means I’ll be going back to work really soon. The good news is that I’ll only be working 2.5 days so if everything goes according to plan, there’ll still be plenty of time for us to spend together. You’ve become much more attached to me these days and that’s going to make it more difficult for me leave, especially when you’re your cutest in the mornings, all smiles and crazy hair.

It also doesn’t help that you’ve become much clingy-er to me at night and when you need to sleep.

It makes me so tired but (not-so-)secretly, I love it that you want me and know that I’m your Mummy. It makes everything worthwhile. It’ll be a new ballgame when I go back to work but I know we’ll get through it baby, you, me and your Daddy, with God leading us. Cos that’s what families do, and that’s what we are.

(Hmmm, looking at these pics, I think you might need another haircut!)