Gracie continues to be the BEST baby ever (no, I'm not biased...she really is)! I just can't get over how good natured and content she is on a daily basis. As long as she's fed on her schedule, she's a happy baby. Her teachers have commented to me that she is one of the happiest babies they've seen, which makes me just that much prouder of her!
One of my favorite games to play with Gracie is being the tickle monster... she giggles and giggles and giggles. I love her little belly laugh, and we're getting to hear it more and more these days! It is also much easier to make her smile.
I feel like Gracie is changing so much every day! She's now able to grasp toys, and I've seen her transfer a toy from one hand to the other once or twice. It's amazing to watch how much concentration she has to use just to get her little hand where she wants it to go! She loves playing in her exersaucer. She often sits and talks to the toys on the exersaucer as she pushes the buttons that make music. She can also sit in her bumbo chair with its toy tray for a little while, but she often gets frustrated more quickly in that than in the exersaucer. She is also becoming much more aware of her surroundings, and she loves to focus people's faces, even when they are walking all the way across the room.
Gracie also found her feet this week! On Thursday morning I was changing her diaper, and her footed PJs looked like tigers on her feet. When she kicked her legs up, she noticed the tigers were moving and grabbed for them. She did this several times during the diaper change, which made it a little harder than normal for me to finish quickly! Later that evening, she was again kicking her legs up in the air and grabbing her toes. Too cute!
We're still waiting on her to rollover. She's not a huge fan of tummy time, although I think she is getting a little bit better now that she realizes that she can see more if she lifts her head and shoulders up. Once she starts to get mad that she's on her stomach, she'll kick and wiggle, but she hasn't done it hard enough to make her self turn over. And as far as rolling from her back to her stomach, I think she's just so happy staring at ceiling fan that she has no interest in moving from that position!
Gracie loves conversation! When she hears people talking, she will often chime in, sometimes rather loudly. In the last few weeks, we've been trying to put Grace in her highchair while we eat dinner, so she can watch us eat and listen to us talk about our day. At this month's check-up, her doctor mentioned that Gracie is one of the most talkative babies she's seen in a long time. Is it any surprise, knowing her parents?!?
Her four month appointment went well. She's now weighing it at 17 lbs 15 ounces and is 26.5 inches long, so she remains in the +95% for both her weight and height! She had to get three more vaccines this month, and they again made her scream. It is so hard for me to see her in pain, but thankfully she calms down rather quickly once they are finished. Gracie had a slight fever at her appointment, but there didn't seem to be anything wrong with her, so the doctor didn't seem too concerned. Her ears were a little pink, so they did some kind of test where an instrument blows air in her ears to measure how the eardrum moves. The test results were normal, so the doctor didn't think we needed to put her on any medication. Thankfully Grace's fever was gone by the next day.
In the last month I decided it was time to start moving Gracie's bedtime up. After playing at daycare all day, she is one tired little girl, but I was still nursing her at 6:30 and again around 9:30 before putting her to bed. She would often sleep most of the evening in her swing, so I figured she might as well be in bed getting good rest. I was so afraid that she'd stop sleeping through the night, so after consulting with some friends with older babies, I decided to gradually move her 9:30 feeding earlier until it merged with her 6:30 feeding. A few nights last week she only ate one feeding at 7pm. Those were rough nights where Grace would wake up in the middle of the night, but putting her pacifier back in her mouth was usually enough to get her to go to sleep. I'm hoping this gets better over the next month! For now, we're flipping between one and two feedings to try to find the right balance. It is definitely the most challenging issue I've had so far!
