Four Month Update

Oliver had his four-month doctor's appointment last week, so taking the opportunity to check in again.

First, I am now keeping track of months by the calendar, instead of weeks. So, the 8th of every month is now his birthday! Hard transition to make after pregnancy, which counts by the weeks.

Oliver's measurements come in at: 18lbs, 11.5oz (99th percentile), 27in long (99th percentile) and his head is 43.5cm (80th percentile). The doctor went across the curve chart, and Oliver is the equivalent in size to an average (50th percentile) 7-month-old. He's a big boy. I've packed up all of the 3 month clothes, and pulled out of lot of 9 and 12-month clothes.

He's now playing with toys - holding rattles and small toys. He is shoving everything in his mouth. The pediatrician calls this mouthing, which means he's just practice teething, until suddenly teeth show up, and then its teething. He's drooling a lot and biting down on anything he can get his mouth on. Oliver now sleeps in his own room, in his smaller bassinet. Next step is the crib, which starts this week. He often sleeps 7 to 9 hours without waking (although occasionally throws in waking up after an hour, or just periodically throughout the night). The only catch is that he doesn't go down for the night until 11:30 or midnight. He sleeps with a noise machine, which I think helps, and is quite soothing for us when we hear it through the monitor all night.

Oliver has started to "hug" - wrapping his arms tightly around you. But he also PINCHES when he does this - usually on the underside of your arm or your neck. The sensitive parts that hurt! But, he's sitting up with assistance, and holds his neck up like a champ. We've started giving him a lot of chances on his tummy, since he doesn't like to stay there for long until he cries, but occasionally he rolls himself over from front to back. This is all in preparation for crawling. He likes to look at himself in the mirror, and he's started to notice, if just a little bit, other babies. He's very aware when I'm not around and will eventually start to cry, but he does let other people hold him, thank goodness. We take him out to dinner with us and he does very good - just sleeping. So we've been trying to do that as much as possible these days.

Can't wait for him to start enjoying his playmates - Opal, Wesly and Asher. And to welcome a few more waiting in the wings!