4 Months Old

Age: Sixteen weeks

Approximate height and weight: 25" inches, 14 lbs.,1.5 oz.

Milestones: It feels like BB changes every day! He's come so far in his movements, vocalizing, coordination, and focus. In the past month, I've seen him go from clumsily flipping himself over to skillfully rolling multiple times in a row across the room. Since mastering that, he's been obsessed with learning to crawl and sit up. He's at the point where his legs are doing the right thing, but he can't quite get his arms to cooperate, creating an "inchworm" effect. Most of the time, he prefers being in tummy time or sitting with support unless one of us is lying next to him reading a book. It's like he knows there's no time to waste if he wants to crawl sooner versus later!

He's made a ton of progress using his hands to grasp objects. Just a few weeks ago, he could only hold something for a few seconds if I put it in his hand, but now he actively grabs toys and objects of all sizes and can hold them for a minute or so depending. Now that he's getting into the teething stage, he enjoys using this new ability to put everything he encounters into his mouth!

BB's vision has improved substantially and you can tell he can focus on details, see more colors, and recognize us from a distance. He tracks us walking around and is even beginning to show interest in what the cats are doing.

His cries are becoming more distinct depending on what he wants and it seems like he's learning to hold out his arms when he wants to be held. Games and books are also getting more popular as his attention span grows and his communication skills become more refined. The range of sounds he makes is also expanding to include things like "ah" and "brrr."

Likes: Ehren loves working on crawling and sitting up, knocking over towers of blocks, looking around outside and in stores, reading books with Mommy and Daddy (and helping turn the pages), doing his little Irish jig, playing with (and chewing on) his high contrast flashcards, and getting kisses on the cheek. His favorite book by far is "Uni the Unicorn" and he's developed a love of unicorns and ponies.

Dislikes: Not being fed quickly enough is still at the top of the list! Also, since his awareness has increased, he's starting to become more finicky about being held by anyone besides Mommy and Daddy. It's becoming clearer when he needs to take a nap since he gets very grumpy and sometimes, he doesn't like taking a bottle being held sideways and wants to be upright so he can help hold the bottle.

Memory: I probably won't ever forget how BB reacts when we read him "Uni the Unicorn." Every time we even show him the cover, he gets super excited and many times, he squeals and laughs throughout the story. I've read it to him so many times that I have a lot of sound effects and comments that I add while reading it. I hope this means he'll be an avid reader some day like his parents! A mildly traumatic memory was when poor BB got scratched by Guen. She was chasing Bumblebee and jumped over BB, giving him a couple little nicks that I didn't even notice at first. When he cried, I thought it was just because he was startled by the experience, but then Leif noticed the scratches on his arm. Luckily, he healed without any ill effects...

Mom and Dad: We can't believe how fast BB is growing. As expected, we're both still pretty deathly tired all of the time, but we're cherish the little family time moments we have like watching a cartoon, going to the store or Donutland, or hanging out when Leif comes home for lunch.