And while newborns are deliciously adorable and probably the closest thing on this earth to living, breathing angels, they are also pretty limited. They sleep more than they're awake; their smiles are spontaneous rather than deliberate; and they stare more than they truly "react." I absolutely adored Harper from the moment I saw her. Yet, by the time I'd spent three months holding my precious newborn—this tiny, beautiful little girl who looked like she belonged on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel—I was eager to see Harper move on to the next phase, one where she opened her eyes more often and smiled in response to our smiles and held her head up without suffering from "rubber neck."
Her fourth month was, without question, that next phase in her development. She made sooo much progress, and we celebrated so many milestones!
The biggest of all of them is that she is now smiling at the sound of our voices and the sight of our faces. This was huge, especially for Mommy. I can't tell you how much it meant to see my daughter's face light up for the first time when I went to retrieve her from her crib and said, "Harper, it's your Mommy! Good morning!" Seeing that big, gummy grin was like winning the lottery. Twice. On Christmas.
A close second is the fact that Harper is now able to track us—and other objects—with her eyes. She follows us, our fingers, and the toys we hold up in front of her from one side to the other as though performing a field sobriety test. This may not seem big, but it is. There is a tremendous amount of relief that occurs when you can finally take comfort in the fact that your baby sees you. Like, really sees you. I now KNOW she's looking at me—not something behind or beside or above me—when she appears to be looking at me. There's no mistaking it. This is huge.
What else? She has let out a few giggles here and there—still no major belly laughs just yet, but she's right on the verge. However, she continues to screech, squeal, and coo at certain people and objects (e.g., Jeff & me—particularly when we're changing her—the ceiling fan, the "sun flower" on her Bright Starts activity gym, the lambs on her lamb swing mobile, etc.).
She has also taken to this little picture of Nemo on the side of her baby wipes box. I point to Nemo and ask, "Is that your Nemo?" and she smiles at it—a real big, gum smile—every time I change her. Interestingly, she also seems quite intrigued by her nursery wall letters. I don't know if it's because of the different patterns or what, but she stares right at them and smiles every time she's on the changing table in her nursery.
Favorite pastimes during her fourth month include:
- Having Mommy sing "Head, Shoulders, Knees, and Toes"—complete with all the motions—to her. She smiles really big when I do the "and mouth and nose" part.
- Doing "Super Harpers" with Mommy, Daddy, Gran, and/or Grandfather (e.g., springing off of our laps and having us make her "fly" while yelling, "Suuuper Haaarper!").
- Swinging in her lamb swing and playing in her Bright Starts activity gym.
- "Standing," "walking," and "jumping" when we hold her up underneath the arms. We think she's going to be one of those babies who skips crawling completely and just starts with walking. Thus far, she has expressed absolutely no desire to crawl, scoot, or do anything to move from Point A to Point B on her tummy. She does, however, LOVE to stand up, "walk," and "jump" on our laps as long as we support her underneath the arms. (Consequently, Jeff & I are currently doing our homework on Jumperoos and ExerSaucers and trying to figure out which will be the better buy for Harper!) What to Expect—The First Year says 25% of four-month-old babies will bear some weight on their legs. Harper has been doing this for about three weeks, and she's only supposed to be a nine-week-old! She might be ahead of the game on the walking front.
- Being kissed, particularly on the forehead, chin, and the corners of her mouth—elicits a smile every time!
- Taking baths with Mommy (but now kicks her legs like a little frog in the bathtub!).
- Cuddling and sleeping on Daddy's chest and stomach (aka: "Harper's waterbed").
Other milestones significant to Jeff & me and likely no one else include:
- Stopped sleeping in the bedside bassinet in our room and moved upstairs to her "big girl" crib in her nursery at the beginning of her fourth month.
- Stopped by my old office and met my former bosses and coworkers for the first time the week before she turned four months. It was great for me to get to see everyone and fun for them to meet this little person they'd come to "know" so well in utero. Erik & Christy brought in pizzas for the occasion, and Hector drew a "Sticky of the Day" in Harper's honor:
- Recognizes the sight and sound of us shaking her bottle and correlates it with food. As soon as she spots the bottle and we put the burp cloth under her chin, her cry totally transforms and she starts getting fidgety as though she understands that dinner is served. However, she does not yet understand that the burp cloth is not an appetizer.
- Sat in her Bumbo chair for the first time without slumping at just over three months.
- Went swimming in her mushroom baby pool for the first time at three-and-a-half months—wasn't a huge fan, but I think mainly because she'd just woken up from a nap.
- Played "peek-a-boo" with Mommy for the first time at four months and smiled when I "reappeared."
- Outgrew all of her "newborn" and most of her "0–3 months" clothes; she can now wear only "3–6 months" clothes, with the exception of stuff from Gymboree, which runs super huge.
- Stared in disbelief at my toothbrush and then back at my mouth as I held her in one arm while brushing my teeth the other day. You could just see her trying to wrap her little mind around it. She was so puzzled, I couldn't help but laugh out loud.
- Paid attention to and eventually smiled at the "baby in the mirror" for the first time at four months old.
- Showed a slight interest in books for the first time as a four-month-old. Mommy now tries to read Baby Colors once a day, although Harper doesn't always have the attention span for it.
- Met my paternal grandmother, Val, who suffered a debilitating stroke almost six years ago, at the nursing home for the first time. Harper was very cute and nuzzled right up to Val in her wheelchair.
- Slept through the night for the first time (or, well, 6 ½ hours at least) at three-and-a-half months, after she had her last bottle at 12:30 A.M. and didn't wake up to eat again until 7:00 A.M. Mommy was shocked! Harper has graduated to sleeping six hours at a time, but this rarely means sleeping through the night, as Mommy & Daddy are usually too tired to make it past midnight for the day's final feeding. More frequently, Harper eats her last bottle at about 8:30 P.M., goes to bed at 9:00 P.M., wakes up Mommy to eat somewhere between 3:30 and 5:00 A.M., and then wakes up to start her day at about 8:30 A.M. Mommy is going on her fourth month of not sleeping through the night—yet, strangely, it's not even a big deal anymore. Sleeping four or so hours at a time is now commonplace. By the time you do something for a third of a year, you really don't remember what it was like to NOT do it. And let's not kid ourselves, it's actually been much longer than that. I used to wake up in my third trimester crying—literally, CRYING—due to crippling joint pain in my hands and fingers and unbearable heartburn, let alone those nights when I would awaken to the fun sensation of my super active little baby kicking the crap out of my uterus. So, yes, between the general discomfort during the later stages of pregnancy, the bliss of cesarean recovery, and the cries of my darling, hungry little newborn baby, I barely remember what it was like to sleep uninterrupted for eight consecutive hours. I'm not worried about it, though. Harper will eventually sleep through the night. The doctor said he'd be surprised if a baby her age—her adjusted age, I mean—could sleep longer than five or six hours at a time, so I'm thinking that we have a couple more months of up-in-the-middle-of-the-night feedings to go. Hey, it could be worse. We could be back in the days of two-or-more feedings in the middle of the night! Nooo, thank you!
Physically, she's changing so much every day. There are the precious little weight-gain-related baby features (e.g., chubby legs, chubby arms, chubby wrists, chubby tummy, chubby cheeks, and chubby, double—sometimes triple—chins), but there are also the characteristics that make her increasingly more her, and it's so fun to see those grow and develop and sharpen. I'm convinced that her eyes are going to remain blue, although not the dark ocean blue they were in the hospital and not the light, sky blue shade that exists in both of our families. Harper's eyes are a beautiful, smoky bluish-slate gray with flecks of green and hazel, like gorgeous marble, with a ring of dark blue around the outside. The hair on the top and back of her head, which thinned out considerably and partially fell out during her third month, has now thickened and formed into a little cap of light brown, with a cowlick on the right side above her forehead just like her daddy. It's darling.
I find myself wondering what she'll look like skipping off to Kindergarten at five, kicking a soccer ball (or whatever!) at nine, climbing into her car at 16, walking down the aisle at…25? 30? I can't picture it just yet, but I know one thing: She'll be the most beautiful thing on earth to her parents.
