Hello, Monster!

You are four months old.  I can't believe how quickly time has passed since you were born, and now you smile and laugh and sit up (with a little assistance) and jump around in your bouncer.  You have a daily routine now, and with the notable exception of the 4:30am meal*, we all love it.  You have a mind of your own already, and you're not likely to be too shy.  Happy or sad, you let everyone know how you're feeling.  You wear your heart on your sleeve, along with lots of drool and a little spit up.  Oh, wait... that's my sleeve!

You wake up (*ahem) just before our alarms go off, and about half of the time, you lay in your crib and play with your feet while you wait for us to come and get you.  Quiet little coos can be heard from our loft, which is right above your crib, and as you are well aware, we have no door between us.  On the days that you aren't quietly playing, you have an incredible ten-syllable aaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH that it takes you fifteen seconds to get out, just in case we didn't realize you were awake.  When we walk to your crib, and say good morning, you give us your biggest smile, and you wiggle your whole body at once. 

You've started eating rice cereal too, which is a nice switch from the lonely bottles of yore.  We're in week two of solid(ish) food, and for the most part, you LOVE it.  We've learned to give you a few ounces of milk first, lest the hungry monster rears his unhappy head, but after that you are a baby bird for the spoon.  Yesterday, you inadvertantly spit a mouth full of cereal in Mama's face.  I can't wait to feed you vegetables, and see this same thing happen, since all three of us were pretty amused.  You roll easily onto each side, but haven't shown much interest in rolling all the way onto your tummy, possibly because you loathe tummy time.  You're getting better, but many times when we lay you face down, you just give a frustrated grunt.  You make great swimming motions on the ground, and it won't be long before you realize that tummy time means moving time. 

Since you see half of the Grandparents every day, we spend a good amount of time in the car, where you ride quietly and happily almost every day.  *Dodging bullet noise.*  I have a mirror mounted on the back seat, so I can see you in my rearview as you play with your guys.  (Not that I'm watching that as I drive, of course.)   Between all of us, you get a good deal of attention, and it has turned you into a very social boy.  You have also mastered the social cough, which everyone knows is a talent all employers are looking for.  You gain a new skill almost every day, and this weekend you learned to blow raspberries.  I'd like to say it's on command, but half of the time you just squish up your face and laugh at us doing it.  You also like to sit upright.  You remind us of this every time we attempt to lay you down, like we did, oh...  two weeks ago.  Because, now you must sit.  You put absolutely everything in your mouth, including my hair and sometimes your entire hand makes it in.  I can't wait until you realize that your feet can go in there, because you will just love that. You drool all the time, and I swear you have a bottom tooth coming in, though I've sworn that for about three weeks, with no teeth in sight.  Yet.  Sometimes Mommy is right, but in a delayed way.  Remember that, monster.

It took us about a month of sleep training (for both you and for us) but you now go to bed with relative ease.  We lay you down with your new favorite blankey, and turn on the mobile and you put yourself to sleep.  Compared to just a month ago, that is a snap.  Since your crib is on the main level, you don't get much of a shield from noise, but you've handled that quite well.  Aside from that one dinner party, where you had trouble falling asleep (we are so sorry about that one) you sleep through Super Mario matches and company all the time.  I'm not even sure what I'll do when you and I don't share that middle of the night feeding anymore. 

Wait, what am I saying?  Don't let that stop you from sleeping through the night.  We can find lots of time to smile at each other when we're both awake, I promise.

We're sorry we are always eating your cheeks.

You're our favorite, monster!