Sleep, Four Month Check-Up, & Car Seat
It has been difficult to get Joshua to sleep recently. He cries and cries until it is time to eat again. When he finally does get down to sleep, then he sleeps through the night and then some but he protests something wicked before going down for that sleep. He usually eats every three to four hours but sometimes, it seems, he cries so much in protest against sleeping that he works up an appetite in just two hours or so.
In other Joshua news, he went for his four month shots last week and the doctor said he is in 75% percentile for weight (15 lbs 12 ozs) and 95% percentile for height (25 inches). He is going to be a tall boy like Daddy. He is getting long for his little car seat and we've loosened the straps a bit to accomodate our growing boy. This car seat should be good until he is 22 lbs, which is still quite a few months away, but we went out tonight and bought a convertible rear-facing & forward facing car seat for when he gets bigger. It should last him until he is four years old, maybe even five. Normally, we wouldn't be in a rush to get such an item, but decent car seats are hard to come by in Thailand (or so we hear). The Thai are generally not much into safety. Therefore, we need to think ahead and purchase anything that we will need for the next four years in Thailand that is only available in the United States (a reliable car seat, for example).
Smile Baby
We took a whole bunch of great smile pictures and I will post more if I have time but in the meantime, here is one of the more fun ones.
A Lazy Boy for Baby
Waitress, could I have some milk please?
Maxin' and relaxin' on the Boppy
Joshua's newest activity is trying to grab his feet. On occasion he succeeds, but not often.
It is so hard to get a picture of Joshua smiling because it only lasts for a split second but we may have captured a small smile in this picture.Finger Food
Our boy loves finger food. His own fingers, to be exact. Joshua has discovered the joy of sucking on his fingers and wastes no opportunity to jam into his mouth as many fingers as can possibly fit. I truly believe that if it was physically possible to put both hands and all ten fingers into his mouth at once, he would do it.
Meet My Little Friend
One of Joshua's favorite activities is standing. In this picture, we are doing our ventriliquism routine where I hold him up from behind (or often from the sides) and he supports his weight on his legs. He has more than enough strength to hold him self up but almost most zilch for balance. But we both have lots of fun holding him up and keeping him from toppling over as he flails around, looking everywhich way.
Also, in the past few days he has just started what Sun calls "crawling". I suppose it IS the beginning stages of crawling but what he is actually doing looks more like someone trying to push a wheelbarrow that doesn't have a wheel. While lying on his belly, Joshua will straighten his legs at an angle to the floor, push off with his feet, arch his butt up in the air, and push his face and arms into the floor (or bed or whatever his is lying on). Granted that he does move an inch or so forward on occasion while using this method, I not convinced that this is bona fide crawling. But he is getting there. Joshua will be four months old next week (9/24)
Spin the Baby
Joshua's newest game is to spin around in his crib while he is sleeping. We put him down with his head going north (lengthwise) in the crib but when we come back later sometimes he has turned 45 degrees with his feet up on the crib bumper, sometimes turned 90 degrees with his head and feet jammed up against either side of the crib widthwise (this can't be all too comfortable), and then other times he has spun around almost 180 degrees so that he is facing the exact opposite direction of how we put him in the crib. At first we couldn't figure out how he did it, but we think he pushes off with his powerful, chunky thighs and spin his tail out (again and again in some cases). Then today, for the first time, we heard him crying and found that he had turned himself over for the first time and was on his belly, head up like the Sphinx, looking around and crying. Joshua is going to be a hyper-active terror on two feet once he has enough balance and coordination to walk. Having a baby is fun.