Four months old—the best age yet!

Wally Ben is four months old. I love love love love this age!

I should not write and publish this blog, as every time we claim something is good, Wally Ben hears us and does his darndest to make sure that it is no longer true. He likes to change things up, keep it interesting, be unpredictable. We were out to eat with Wally IV’s Donno and Bops the other day when Wally said, “Eating. That’s one thing we don’t have trouble with. We’ve never had a hard time getting Wally Ben to eat.” Meanwhile, as he spoke those cursed words, Wally Ben was wailing for an hour, refusing to take a bottle for his poor Auntie Jane and Grandma Ott. Ay ay ay!

Anyhow, against my better judgement, I say all of this anyway! I love love love four months old. Wally Ben is starting to take some longer naps, so we’re down to only 3 naps a day. And no more bouncing! A few weeks ago, he told me we were ready to nap train. We were doing our bounce routine, and he kept fussing in my arms, saying, “Put me down already, you silly Mama!” He did this several naps in a row, as if he were saying, “Instead of fussing in your arms, I want to fuss in my crib.” So we did. And typically, since that day, he cries for up to ten minutes, then sleeps. We’ve had a few doosies (45 minute cries, yipes!) but also a lot of no-cry naps. The point is, I’m no longer worried about naps. They seem to be working themselves out. And like with most of the things I’ve worried about in my first four months of parenting, I look back and think, what was the big deal about that, anyway?

Another great thing about four months old–we have so much fun! He loves to play. We grab toys, we peek-a-boo, we jump in our jumparoo. (Okay, he jumps in it, we watch. Athough, the other day, Wally IV said, “They should make big versions of the jumparoo for humans.” Ummm, I believe Wally Ben’s jumparoo is made for humans…). We read books (he likes it! My dreams are coming true! He follows along! He looks at the pictures! He digests the story–ok, ok, he grabs pages and tries to eat them, but still!), we sometimes just lay on the ground and kick away. And our favorite, we stand and jump jump jump! (He did this when the doctor tried testing his standing skills. Standing is never good enough–he has to jump. So when she held him under his arms to test his standing skills, he practically jumped off the table. Surprise!)

I also love to watch him learn. Every day he explores and learns new things, from how his hands work to how to roll over to how to make different noises. Just yesterday he made a gasping sound when breathing in and he liked it so much that by the end of the day, he sounded like he was in serious need of an inhaler.

And he is a funny little bugger. I think sometimes, he plays jokes on purpose. Like yesterday, in Pier One Wally IV held Wally Ben up to stand on the checkout table as I was buying something. Then, just as we were leaving, Wally Ben aimed his bum at the sales clerk and let ‘er rip with a big stinky fart. We swiftly scooped him out of there, and walked through the stink (pee-yew) laughing. (Is it okay to throw your son under the bus and make sure everyone knows that honestly, that stink bomb came from that little tush?)

And his laugh. Oh that laugh! I work all day to hear that little low chuckle. It makes me look forward to what I expect his voice will sound like, small and low with a little bubble behind it just like his dad.

His four month doctor visit confirmed that he is healthy (yay!), growing (75% in weight at 16 pounds, 90th% in height at 27″–only one inch shorter than his 9 month old cousin Grady!), and most of all happy. Even though he was missing his nap, the whole time the doctor and I talked, he did nothing but kick around on that crunchy exam table paper–I have to get some of that stuff! The doctor tested all his skills, and ended with his tummy time. He held his head up like a good little boy, looked over at the doc, and when she met his gaze, he scrunched his face down into the paper. What a flirt! Then the doc–a woman who sees tons of kids every day–laughed at him and said the best possible words: “What a happy baby!” A healthy, happy boy–that’s all I could ever ask for!