The First Born at Four Months

Happy birthday to Caleb’s Grandma Haske! This Caleb update is for you and inspired by my friend Lindsay, who does a much better job keeping her family and friends informed about her little guy. So I’m following her lead and her format to bring you this:

Size: Caleb had his four month check up on December 23rd. He weighed in at 18 lbs 14 oz, which puts him in the 95% for weight. My arms are in the best shape of my life, and I’m pretty sure I can bench press and dead lift more than I could when I was going through Belmont’s training program for the tennis team. Caleb added three inches to his length, officially putting him at 27 inches long (90%). He is wearing 9 month to 12 month sized clothing and will be out to his last snap in his Bumgenius one-size cloth diapers before we know it. I was hoping the cloth diapers would last until it was time for him to start potty training. That was a crazy thought. It’s not going to happen. He’s growing so fast, he might have to wear Depends.

Likes: Like most kids, Caleb likes the things we don’t want him to like; namely t.v. We try to keep him away from the flashing box, but if he catches a glimpse, he’ll twist his head around and fuss to get a good view. He loves smiling, slobbering on things and spitting. He thinks it’s hilarious to make bubbles with his lips and soak his shirt. I do not think it’s hilarious to have to change his outfit five times a day, so I usually slap a bib on him, which saves us from multiple changes. His favorite song is the five little ducks song, which he discovered when our friend Leslee brought him a fisher price seat with a toy that played the tune. I googled the song to learn the lyrics and now we make music together – I sing the words and he makes his toy play the music.

 Dislikes: Taking a bottle, tummy time, being moved from view of the t.v.

Feeding: It’s hard to imagine this child ever had a problem nursing. Now nursing is the only way he wants to eat. At the beginning, when nursing was so painful, pumping and bottle feeding was a relief and something I did daily. Sometimes twice a day. Then it happened. Nursing got easier and less painful, and before I knew it, I had left bottle feeding out altogether. It was a hassle to pump and bottle feed when I could nurse him faster and with less mess. When I headed out for my December book club meeting (which goes late into the night with a fun group of ladies), I left a bottle with Paul. After a few hours of a screaming baby, Paul called me during book club. Caleb refused to eat. For the next few weeks he refused a bottle. But, after researching some strategies and devising my own variation, he is now taking a bottle – reluctantly, and not without letting me know that he dislikes it – but just in time for my January bookclub.

Sleeping: Caleb has been sleeping through the night since he was nine weeks old (don’t hate me other mamas with hungry babies). One of the advantages of being so chubby and on a semi strict Babywise schedule is that Caleb is a great sleeper. Nowadays he goes down to bed at 7:30 pm and wakes up at 7:30 am. He takes a long nap in the morning and a fairly long nap in the afternoon. In between he’s busy playing and being a baby.

Milestones: He has rolled over once, so we think it was a happy accident rather than a milestone. He’s great at arching back, which almost eliminates the need to roll over as he can contort his body well enough to get a good look at whatever catches his fancy. The family jokes that he has inherited the loud DeHaan voice. He makes all kinds of funny noises, including something that sounds a bit like a growl, and all at a very loud volume.

That’s the four month update on Baby Haske. Happy birthday, Momma Barb!