4 months

Hard to believe it's already been 4 months with this little guy. Where has my itty bitty baby gone? We go for his 4 month appointment on the 8th. He's my happy baby - he rarely gets in a fussy state for no reason. If he's fussy it's because he's bored, hungry or tired and when that need is met he returns to being my smiley baby again.

When we first got back from Paris he hated the car-seat but thankfully after a couple days of having to hear his heart breaking cries he decided the car-seat was okay - especially if he has Horton to chew on and now only cries 10% of the time (and if you hit a red light at the wrong time.)

At 4 months most babies should be able to:

• Smile, laugh
• Can bear weight on legs
• Coos when you talk to him

Micah can and does do all of them. It sometimes takes some work to get a good laugh out of him but he'll do it and it's getting to where it doesn't take too much effort anymore - especially if you tickle him or poke him. Gigi got his first real laugh out of him on August 5th while we were in London by poking him (well that I heard - Beau swears he had done it for him before we left for Paris) He loves to stand and especially loves to talk. He will just talk and coo away to anyone who will listen. He talked almost the whole Bibleland meeting I had a week ago and almost every time I pick him up from the gym nursery they comment on how happy he is and how much he loves to talk.

Emerging skills (half of all babies can do these)

• Can grasp a toy
• Rolls over, from tummy to back

Micah has gotten pretty darn good at grabbing onto the dragonfly that is on his playmat to bring it to his mouth and he loves to grab onto his Horton blanket and bring it to his mouth to chew on it. (Speaking of the Horton blanket I may have to be ordering another one as a back up as he seems to really like it and I'd hate to have him become attached to it and then not have a back up if it gets lost/left behind) He also is getting good at rolling over onto his back from his tummy and has woken him self up doing this (yes yes I'm a non-rule following mommy and let him sleep on his tummy for naps during the day because generally he'll sleep longer this way) He can roll from his back to his side but doesn't roll all the way to his stomach yet - maybe because he just prefers to lay on his back. He can wiggle himself around pretty well and when on his tummy he can put his legs up underneath him and scoot himself a little ways before he'll get tired and roll to his back.

Advanced Skills:

• Imitates sounds: "baba," "dada"
• Cuts first tooth

• May be ready for solid foods

Not sure how cutting teeth are really a skill here but I'm thinking as best I can tell that there is a little speck on his bottom gum where the left bottom tooth may be appearing soon but then again it may not. He also loves to chew on my fingers which can be a developmental thing (mouthing objects) or could be teething - the verdict is still out on this one. He sometimes seems to imitate sounds but other times he just coos away but he's probably not far off. As far as the solid foods go he meets some of the criteria - depending on where you find your criteria however we will be waiting until at least 6 months before introducing solids. It's not nutritionally needed as breast milk should be his primary nutrition until he reaches a year, plus it's messy. I'll again be making his food as I did Abby's and we might try some baby lead eating as well and not do as much of the mushy stuff.