This little love is 4 months old today. She weighs 13 lbs, 13 oz and is 25 1/4 inches long — 77th percentile for height. She continues to “talk” to us 24/7 and absolutely adores music; we’re constantly singing to her. I love her sweet little voice! I think it’s such a pleasure to see her smile because she looks quite serious a lot of the time, but will spontaneously break out into this enormous, dimpled smile that just makes me melt. In the last month, I’ve even been able to get her to giggle by kissing under her chin, near her neck. It’s the sweetest little sound, hearing her laughing but it’s not easy to get to her neck under her little double chin! Also, if I laugh at something she’s doing, she‘ll try to imitate the sound I make, but at a half speed, “ha…ha…ha.” It’s absolutely adorable.
My little music-lover at Newport Folk Festival, one day before her 4-month birthday!
Emilia’s first encounter with lobster in Marshfield, MA
The 4-month sleep regression hit us about 3 weeks ago, just after I returned from Marshfield. It’s been rough for me since I’m up more frequently nursing her at night again and she’s also been a little more clingy. She’ll be cranky with Brian but as soon as she sees me will smile and perk up immediately. It’s definitely an ego boost to see her light up like that, but I know it’s just a phase and she adores her daddy.
For about 5 straight minutes, she had a death grip on her toy cow’s “hooves” as she intensely studied the black and white pattern. The concentration and seriousness made me crack up. I’d never seen her do this.
She’s been able to touch her hands together for about a month now and can suck on her fingers and pull things towards her. She’s also been rolling over both ways, front to back and back to front for about three weeks now. I think she was 3 months and a week the first time I saw her roll tummy to back. I happened to have the video camera out so daddy could see.
Lately, she’s loving looking out the living room window and playing with different textures on her hands and feet. Or anything that makes a crinkle-sound is fun to touch and kick too. She’s loved mirrors for a few months now, but in the last month, it’s been more obvious that she can see what’s reflected. If I stand in front of the mirror and smile at her, she’ll break into the biggest grin ever, right back at me. I’ve also noticed her studying her reflection in her whale mirror that hangs on the side of her crib.
Emilia is getting better at spending longer periods of time entertaining herself in her crib too. I’ll wind her mobile up, strategically place a few toys just out of her reach, and hand her a rattle or link to hold, then step away for a few minutes and just watch her from the door as she studies and reaches and twists. Yesterday I watched her wiggle herself in a complete circle around her crib trying to reach her favorite toys which include her crinkle giraffe, her Infantino cow with the black and white-patterned hooves, her “Caitlin” bunny, and her O-Ball. She’s also been loving linking rings and teethers.
We log a lot of tummy time and I’m always amazed by how strong her neck control is and how much she loves to kick her arms and legs. Nursing her is a challenge because she’s always kicking off me or grabbing at my shirt, my face, or my hair. Or getting distracted by something above or behind me. But when she is really drowsy as we put her to bed, these become the sweetest little gentle caresses back and forth on my or Brian’s arm.
She absolutely loves her play mat and has been wiggling her way all over it. I like to place toys just out of her reach and watch her determinedly squirm her way over to them, reaching out and kicking her legs. Frequently, her reaching leads to a roll and her arm will get stuck under her, but she’s getting better and better at dislodging it on her own.
Her hand/eye coordination is incredible, too. For weeks now, I’ve been giving her various teeters to hold and she’s finally getting the hang of one in particular — it’s a lightweight, blue ring with indented textures for gripping and a little palatte-shaped, toothbrush thing that she loves to gum. Last week, I hung some linking rings off her swing mobile and watched as she eyed them and then swiftly, deftly grabbed one in each hand. Her little elbows locked and she reminded me of a gymnast working the rings. Just the other day, I crinkled a mini York Peppermint patty in front of her to catch her eye and she took it into her left hand then passed it to her right by pinching with her thumb and forefinger. I couldn’t believe it!
At her 4-month checkup we were told that she could probably be sleeping through the night if we wanted to try to work on that with her. I think the words “rip the Bandaid off” were used to describe all the bad habits and sleeping props we need to break her of like:
- sleeping in her Merlin Sleep Suit
- not sleeping in her crib
- sleeping in our room
- feeding her overnight
- using a sound machine
- rocking her to sleep
I dread sleep training. We’d been on such a great track, with an 8-8:30 bedtime and sleep until 2 or 2:30 am, with a second wakeup around 5:30 am, but the last three weeks of hourly wakeups to nurse all night is exhausting us so we need to get her back on track.
Although her movements and body control are smoothing so much every day, I’ll miss her jerky, uncoordinated, arm and leg movements. I feel like they’re one of the last really “babyish” things about her, so for now, I’m trying to drink it all in and savor every second because everyday she is doing something new, it’s absolutely incredible. Happy birthday my love!
First trip to the local library!
Hanging out before her 4 month checkup
Having some fun with stacking rings
A little tummy time, with some of her favorite toys for motivation 
Bath time with daddy
Married with Style 