Caro Figlio- Working on Your Skillz

My little smile guy, you are 19 weeks old... 4.5 months old. I honestly cannot believe it. Time truly does fly. (Or as I like to say, the days pass quickly even though the nights last so long.)

We can all see just how badly you want to start doing things. Physical things! Verbal things! You are almost ready to start doing so much. It is frustrating for you, but you keep at them. Even when you are upset and fussing, you keep trying. But so often you have a look of concentration on your face as you try. Very cute.

All that work is starting to pay off. Just yesterday, you rolled over! I had you lying on your tummy in the cosleeper while I washed up. I heard you grunting and looked over to find you on your back! That wasn't how I left you! So I put you back on your tummy and watched as you did it again! Very cute.

You are so close to rolling from your back to your stomach, too. You are really close. You get all the way over, except one arm is under you and it keeps getting in the way. You don't know what to do with it yet, and you end up rolling back onto your back. Very cute.

I remember your sister at the same period, and I figure it's just something baby's have to work out. Where to put their body parts when they are doing stuff, and how to move them to get them to the right places. But you keep trying, and it's really cute to watch. Especially because sometimes you make these big grunty noises like you are doing karate and revving up before you try to get yourself over. Very cute.

When we do tummy time, your strong neck holds your head up for a really long time. You look this way and that, at the different toys that are around you. You look like you are doing the modified cobra pose, and any yoga master would be jealous. You also are starting to wiggle your body a bit, like you are in the beginning stages of figuring out how to work those limbs to start crawling. Very cute.

When we put you in the bouncy seat or in the swing, you try so hard to sit up. In fact, we are about to put away the bouncy seat, because it just seems to frustrate you. You don't want to be lying back! You want to sit up! You even grab at your pant legs and try to pull yourself up. You are good at pulling up to mostly a sitting position (especially using an adult's hands), but you can't stay up on your own yet. You wobble around like a drunken baby. Very cute.

When you are lying on your back, you love to grab your feet. If you have socks on, you grab the toes of those suckers and pull with all your little might. You roll around like a turtle on his back. You also turn to grab things either when you are lying down or sitting up. You are very grabby lately! The other night at dinner while you were sitting on my lap, you reached over to my plate and grabbed a handful of peas. It was my fault for not having the dinner plate farther away, but you made a mess! And most things are ending up in your mouth. Very cute.

I can see that you really want to be sitting up and playing with toys. You just aren't quite there yet. But you are feeling them, holding them, making noises with them, and really starting to check them out. This morning, your big sister put her baby doll in your arms, and you held onto it. You then tried to put its head in your mouth like a little zombie baby eating brains. (It reminded me of when your sister used to slobber on your dad's head when he bent over to kiss her belly and we'd call her zombie baby.) It was a perfect move for Halloween time. Very cute.

You are cooing and making babbling sounds all the time. I heard you say "mum" the other day. I don't kid myself that you were trying to say "mama," but I'm excited because it was the first babbling with M that I've heard you do. Mostly you make "Ooooo" and "Ahhhh" noises. In the last couple of weeks, you've really ramped up all the babbling. Very cute--except at 5:00 in the morning when you want to talk for a half hour or more, keeping me awake.

You smile and laugh all the time. I just look at you sometimes and you smile or giggle. You love it when I shake your legs or belly side to side and show me by letting out big chuckles. When you are grabbing your feet, I tickle your thighs and you laugh. I also love to make you laugh by coming in slowly and then kissing your jaw line. I kiss from one side of your face to the other, and you laugh the whole time. Very cute.

I that establishes that you are a very cute baby. You are growing so fast, and I'm enjoying every adorable minute of it.

Ti amo,
Mama