Four Months of Tommy

Tommy turned four months old this past week.

At his four-month check-up earlier this week, he weighed in at 14 pounds 7 ounces and measured 25 inches long. His head circumference is 16.5 inches. Tommy’s numbers put him around the 25th percentile for weight and 40th percentile for height. His doctor was pleased with his growth progress, and everything else checked out well.

Tommy is well out of the newborn stage now. He does still have occasional “food coma” moments but can also polish off five ounces in a single sitting and be fully alert afterward. He no longer gets lulled to sleep by white noise (like the shower) and is so alert the entire time he’s awake. Tommy’s always been fairly alert but just grows more alert every month, focusing on new objects and faces at every opportunity.

Tommy is holding and grabbing objects every single day, including the animals and other toys in his activity gym, his stuffed animals, his rattles, and his pacifiers. He’s even started reaching for objects that are being handed to him sometimes. Now that he’s able to grab objects, he likes his Wubbanub, which is a pacifier with a stuffed animal attached (he has a giraffe and a monkey). We’ve had the giraffe Wubbanub for a while, but he had basically zero interest in it until he was able to hold it independently. Tommy’s been grabbing and studying his hands for a couple of months now and has started grabbing his feet as well. He especially loves to grab his bare toes while he’s getting his diaper changed.

As Tommy has transitioned out of the newborn stage, he’s started to develop stranger danger. Tommy definitely prefers to be with Mom and Dad and sometimes gets upset when new people are around, especially when they touch him or come on too strong. He does best with new people in smaller groups. When we’re around larger groups of people, he does best when he’s in his car seat. The little cozy environment seems to offer a sense of safety.

Tommy is talking more every day, with lots of animation in his voice, and laughing a lot. Typically, Tommy laughs when we’re laughing at something or at the same routine activities he finds funny, like having a onesie or shirt lifted over his head. He’s also started laughing occasionally all on his own, usually when our cat Hobbes is doing something ridiculous.

Tommy is holding his head up like a pro, both during tummy time and when he’s sitting on someone’s lap. He can go a full 30 seconds holding his head up while on his stomach without even blinking an eye. When he’s sitting on someone’s lap, he often leans forward and supports his head independently for seconds at a time with no prompting. This past month, Tommy has been moving like crazy and easily wiggles himself right off of his activity gym or a blanket. He’s not rolling yet but is working on those movements all the time.

Over the past few weeks, Tommy’s hair has started growing. He never really lost his newborn hair, it just hasn’t been growing very much. So far, we’ve been saying that his hair is brown, but it’s still hard to tell. He had hardly any eyebrows or eyelashes for weeks, so it seems like his hair will be lighter. He’s had eyebrows and upper eyelashes for a couple of months now, and his lower eyelashes are finally filling in a bit, too.

This past month, as Tommy started consistently eating five ounces or more in a sitting each day, I feel like we finally turned a corner with eating frequency. At the beginning of his fourth month, he still wanted to eat every couple of hours during the day. Now he can often go three or four hours, if not longer, between feedings. Tommy almost always eats five-six ounces after a long stretch of sleep and then eats four-six ounces every three-five hours during the day.

Tommy is wearing three month clothing and a handful of 3-6 month clothing as well. Now that the weather has cooled down, he’s wearing 6-12 month hats, which already fit him perfectly. He’s still wearing size 2 diapers, and I imagine that he will be for at least another month.

Tommy remains a champion sleeper, sleeping his longest stretches at night. He and the cats didn’t get the memo about daylight savings time and were waking up at 5:00/5:30 for food for a few days. Tommy’s gradually transitioned back to his usual 10:30/11:00 p.m. to 7:00/8:00 a.m. sleep schedule. Jake and I are night owls and don’t push him to go to bed early. If we don’t have to go anywhere in the morning, Tommy often goes back to sleep for a couple of hours after his first feeding. A few weeks ago, we started transitioning Tommy to sleeping in his crib in his room. Overall, it’s been a very easy transition.

Tommy loves eating, snuggling/face time/attention with Mom and Dad, reading books, watching the kitties, his stuffed monkey, bright lights, high ceilings, seeing new faces and objects, taking in new textures and other sensory stimulation, and going for walks in the stroller. Tommy remains a summer baby and still loves having his socks off whenever possible, even as the weather has cooled down.

Getting out of the bath is still one of Tommy’s toughest transitions. He loves being in the bath but hates getting out of it. I try to keep him distracted, offering him a pacifier as soon as he’s in his towel and will have food ready immediately afterward if I think he’s at all hungry. He’s now letting me cut his nails like a champ with no tears whatsoever (though I may jinx it by bragging).

Our major event during Tommy’s fourth month was traveling to Texas for my grandpa’s (Tommy’s great-grandpa’s) 90th birthday. Tommy and I flew with my parents. Smaller events include outings to the Domes and China Lights (post still in progress).

credit: Lottie Lillian Photography

As we head into the holiday season, it’s still pretty surreal that we’ll be celebrating with a little one this year. We are beyond grateful to have Tommy in our lives and are just a little excited to have him with us for the upcoming holidays. (We may or may not have already bought him a Christmas stocking.)