Sleep is a huge issue for me – and Mommy and Daddy. Playtime wears me out because I’m so active, so I have to nap a lot — sometimes I even doze off without a swaddle but never for long stretches. When Mommy and Daddy take me out, I sleep in my car seat and thus do much better during car rides. I don’t like being cradled and rocked in someone’s arms quite as much as I used to, and sometimes fuss until Daddy releases me from the swaddle. During the day, I like to nap in my swing, although at night I sleep in my bassinet next to Mommy and Daddy’s bed. For the first time this month, I allowed Mommy to sing me to sleep singing “Hush little baby/Don’t say a word/Papa’s gonna buy you a mockingbird …” Technically, I’ve been sleeping through the night for up to five-hour stretches – Mommy says she needs me to sleep for eight hours; she’s hard to please. I’ve been starting to go to sleep earlier, around 10 pm instead of midnight.
I exercise every day in order to work on my one-pack. Thanks, Aunt Holly, for the exercise video. On my stomach, I can hold my chest up for short periods of time and when I get everything going right I can crawl about three inches before I do a nose dive and start complaining. I like to smile at myself while lying on my stomach and looking into the mirror on my tummy time mat. I no longer like lying on my back all the time; I like to spend half the time standing or sitting … with some assistance.
I still get a kick out of diaper changes. Mommy often leaves the poopiest diapers for Daddy, but fortunately they only occur once every few days.
Prior to this month, I didn’t really notice the fuzzies but now I try to talk to them when they walk nearby. I even grab for them. Today I pulled out some of Squirt’s fur. I needed it. I’ve been losing my own hair. Daddy suggested Rogain.
By the end of my third month (on my four-month birthday), I can now grab my own pacifier and shove it into my mouth – although sometimes it goes in upside down or sideways. I even move it from one hand to the other.
I like to be vocal in the evenings. Lots of happy babbling, rambling, screeching … you’d sound like that too if you had your fist in your mouth. Yes, I drool a lot but that’s because my mouth is busy tasting everything within range. Mommy and I have giggling sessions where she laughs like an insane person and I open my mouth real wide and laugh along. Chacha* (aka Rhumba Rin, aka Tango Rin, aka Nanny Rin, aka Uncle Rin, aka Medium Sikh) gave Mommy and Daddy a book on how to con your baby for Christmas, but Mommy’s already been conning me with her smile trick: When she’s doing something she thinks I might not enjoy (rinsing my soapy head, cutting my nails, wiping my nose), she looks me in the eye and laughs with a big grin and thereby tricks me into thinking we’re doing something that’s supposed to be fun. I’m not saying I’m slow or anything, but somehow this trick works half the time.
Weight: 13lbs 10oz
Height: 24 ¼ inches
Head Circumference: 16 ¼
I’m in the 50th percentile all around. (Doctor Santiago says I’m a very personable baby who looks you in the eye and engages you.)
*You probably don’t get the joke, but ‘Chacha’ is Punjabi for Uncle and Grandpa Rodey insists that Rin be referred to as ‘Chacha.’ However, Mommy thinks the name sounds like a Latin dance.