Fabulous Four Months (2)*

Happy Four Months birthday Clara! It's been a busy few weeks for our family, but I couldn't forget that today marks four months that you've been on the outside with us. You're growing up quickly - in the last few weeks you've really started to "come into your own" as they say. Or, as Flor noticed on Tuesday, you know who you're with now. (Flor watches you every Tuesday now so I can teach my class. This Tuesday you were asleep when she came and when you woke up you cried when you saw her. Luckily, Flor doesn't get offended by these sorts of things, she just gets excited about how you notice people more now.)

You also notice things a lot more and you try to grab them. At our 4-month checkup on Wednesday Dr. Saba reminded me that you'd start grabbing things at the table. That afternoon, you tried to grab my soup bowl off the table, as predicted.

I use this grabbing to my advantage, though: we're now able to take car rides, more often than not, without you screaming the whole way. I've found a toy to hang from your car seat that you enjoy grabbing and trying to get in your mouth. And I've perfected the skill of figuring out just when you've had enough & I pop in the pacifier (thank goodness!) and pull a blanket over the car seat and eight times out of ten you go to sleep.

We also spend some nice time with you awake and exploring your hands, or, sometimes, a toy. But mostly your hands. And we've gotten pretty good at helping you go to sleep. If we catch you before you're over-tired we can usually just swaddle you tight, give you a pacifier, and lay you down in a quiet, dark place & you'll get some winks. I'm getting pretty good at this because you seem to just want 30 minute naps during the day. This means I put you down for a lot of naps. I shouldn't complain, though, because a) you go down for the naps very easily, and b) you sleep for many hours in a row most nights.

You're also still huge: you've long grown out of your newborn clothes and you're already growing out of most of your infant clothes. We've got a big stash of clothes from Molly, but it's just amazing to see how big you get so quickly! You don't seem to have the curls that Molly got from somewhere (and lost), but so far you seem to be keeping those crazy blue eyes.

Hopefully you'll be done with this cold soon. It's almost Spring time and I'm really ready for this non-stop cold season to be done already!

* See Molly's Fabulous Four Months here
** Exciting news! Tommy has a little sister. Welcome to the world Justine! We can't wait to meet you.