Four Months

Dear Elliott,

Today you turned four months old. We went to the pediatrician for a well-child checkup and vaccinations, and I learned a lot of what my gut had already told me. I figured that you waking up twice a night was pretty normal, but there were several books saying you should be sleeping through the night by now, so we started "sleep training"- which is synonymous with torture, I think. You haven't slept through the night yet, but I think the more scheduled day is doing us both some good. You are right on track for most things, and the pediatrician gave me the go-ahead to try cereal if I wanted.

This month had a few unexpected twists. We were back at Peachtree for a little over a month, and my boss decided that I should be home with you rather than back at work. I was really worried there for a while, but new doors are opening up and luckily your Daddy is amazing when it comes to rolling with the punches. Therefore, the two of us have spent a lot of quiet time at home, and the rest of that time I toted you around to various places with other mom's from our play group.

We went to the annual summer art festival with another mommy and baby and had to get creative when the only changing table on the block had a line that wrapped around the building and teenagers loitered in the only convenient places to nurse you.

We went to the Ypsilanti Beer Festival and laughed as Daddy's friends used you to get free beers (this did not work for mommy's friends. Ladies tend to get dirty looks when asking for beer with a baby on their hip).

We went to Borders' story hour with our play group and took up half the store with our strollers.

We went to swanky baby boutiques and took over their play areas too. We've even made friends with several of the moms and their babies, which has been great for me as I try to figure out what I am doing.

You have gotten very strong and prefer to stand instead of sitting or laying in someone's arms. You talk to everyone, shove whatever you can get ahold of in your mouth, and focus on your toys and pictures and people. You have even rolled from tummy to back a couple of times, although I don't think it was on purpose so I haven't recorded it in your baby book yet.

Having you has been a little like stepping into a time warp, where days whiz by so fast that I have to think really hard to figure out what month it is. I remember being younger, waiting until I was FINALLY 10, 13, 16, 18, 21 years old, and then time picked up a little bit after that. But the day I gave birth to you someone pressed fast forward, and I am scrambling a little to keep up. I just seem to think, really? You've outgrown those shoes?! You can handle solid foods? You can support your weight? I'll see enormous pregnant women and try to meet their stares to empathize with being THAT pregnant in the summer, and they just see a normal lady with a chubby baby and I know they must not realize what's coming. That those clothes they haven't even taken the tags off of will be packed away after only being worn twice. That the baby who sends them to the bathroom 15 times a night and kicks them in the ribs is going to be consumed by his jowls and double chins before they know it.

Love,

Momma