Four Months Old

Ana is giggling as she rolls over and waits for me to notice. I flip her back onto her belly and she smiles at her reflection in the mirror. I read in a lot of baby books about how three months is a big timeline, how it takes most of that time for the baby to get used to being outside the womb (“Happiest Baby on the Block”). It is like one long introduction to the rest of your life.

I thought the “newborn baby” thing would be the first three months, but really, it was the first three weeks. After that Ana began to be more than just a lump (sorry, baby lovers). I did enjoy the newborn baby thing more than I thought—I was happy with being done with pregnancy, and starting a new phase. Besides, everything is interesting when it is new. And the whole “so little” thing is ridiculously irresistible.

So from reading all my books, I wasn’t worried about spoiling Ana Sofia, or about getting on some ridged schedule for the first three months. They were about taking it easy and enjoying this new creature and phase of life. And that went well. And Ana slept through the night on her own, and got along well with our normal schedule, and loved going out with us to Living Stones.

Now I am beginning to see changes. Someone has decided she wants to be entertained. I find myself telling her, “If it isn’t a poop, sleep, or eat problem, you are now on your own.” We have a system of while I am working on the computer, she can sit in my lap, tummy time (now rollover practice), bouncy bed thing, or bouncy chair thing (attached to the door frame). She normally cycles through all of these in an hour. By then it is normally time to eat, sleep, or poop.

She cried for the first time when someone else held her. She cried herself to sleep (finally). Her personality is coming out. She laughs, she is ticklish, she complains, she is curious. I started snapchat to record things I am grateful for, and I find they most all revolve around her (add me: rachtheferg).  I am enjoying getting to know her: happy four months, Aninha!