Thomas' 4 month stats

Thomas just had his four month check-up (okay he was closer to 4.5 months by then) and he was:
14 lb 3.2 oz (37%)
26.5 inches long (93%)
42 cm head circumference (44%)

Now I understand why his feet are outgrowing all his sleepers! He is certainly on the tall side and skinny. His weight went down a bit in percentages, but he's also quite active. He definitely does get distracted by all that goes on around him so I also suspect he's just too busy watching and too good natured to cry when he starts to get hungry.

Other updates are that he's turning over to his belly at nearly every chance. He often does in the middle of the night now too. On occasion during the day he also flips from belly to back when he leans his head too far over. He is shocked each time he does it, so I don't think he knows why he flipped.

He's still waking twice a night, but is settling into a 7:30pm or 8pm bedtime. We're doing a bit of sleep training and he is fabulous at it. Last night I put him down well fed and changed with a song and he was awake but only made a little peep after I left and then slept for 4.5 hours. He even sleeps a little later than his brothers and is up around 7:30am.

He's still quite happy and easy going and loves to smile and now giggles. He appears to also be extremely ticklish. His brothers love to say hello to "Little Buddy" and get him to smile.

Invincible Andrew

Andrew is definitely all three-year-old now and has a way to explain his way around anything. To solve any problem or to get around boundaries set he can run really fast, fly, jump really high, push hard and do what it takes to make it a non-issue. For example, I said "Andrew, you need to put on your seatbelt just like Thomas." When that didn't seem convincing, I thought it a good idea to share what might happen if we didn't use seatbelts. I said, "I'm putting Thomas' seatbelt on so if someone hits our car, he won't be knocked out of his carseat. That could happen to you too." Andrew said he'd be fine if he fell out of the car seat. I said "Well, Andrew, for example, Thomas if he wasn't strapped in might fly out of the car and get hurt." Andrew's response was "Well, I'll catch him, Mommy, so he won't get hurt." I said he wouldn't have time. He said he'd run fast and catch him. I said it wasn't really possible to run that fast. So he said he'd run really really fast and catch him and then go kick the car that hit us. That's our invincible Andrew.

Thomas at 4 months

Thomas has changed so much in the last few weeks! Most of it was spent with Grandma and Grandpa in Oakland for Christmas. Thomas added laughing to his smiles, started grabbing toys, thoroughly chewing his thumb (teething?), rolling a little, and blowing raspberries. It is such a joy to see so many changes. He's starting to want to sit up and sat in his jumper for the first time today and was soaking in the new experience. His older brothers love to come say hello to him, calling him "Little Buddy" and "Sunshine." Today they blew raspberries on his belly. The other day in the car Sam said he was so happy we had a baby. What a blessing.

Reading

As we pulled into a gas station on our way home tonight, I heard Sam talking but couldn't understand what he was saying. When I asked him, he said he was trying to read that sign. I was excited...I had started to teach him about how to sound out words, but he had never tried on his own before! Dave and I exchanged anticipatory looks. "Sam, what are you trying to read?" I ask. He says slowly "The letters are A.......T.......M."  Sigh.  I had to explain that you actually just say the letters for that word.