For some reason, for the past couple of weeks, when folks on the street ask how old Hudson is, I’ve been answering three months. So this time our little photo session has actually felt a long time coming! Perhaps it is because he seems to change so much with every week?

Something that hasn’t changed: I still can’t seem to choose just one photo. I have so many favorites! I held myself back to five this time.

Hudson continues to love standing, and is quite adept at lifting his head and standing from a recline–with a little hand-holding, of course. Toys are starting to become more interesting, especially now that he occasionally opens his hands to pinch at or reach for his favorites (which we tend to describe as Mr. this or that: Mr. Elephant, Mr. Birdie, and Mr. Scrapuloctopus). Mornings are the most fun as he smiles and shrieks and shares about a hundred different expressions (all while drooling profusely). One of the most notable new ones, however, is less happy: he now sticks out his lower lip when he starts to cry (it’s at once both incredibly sad and sort of funny). He loves to look around and prefers facing outward in a carrier when awake, and will often happily watch me do things around him from the vantage of a bouncy chair during the day. He watches everything with great intensity; he especially watches our mouths, often trying to mimic movements and then making little soft sounds. There were a few days where he seemed obsessed with sticking out his tongue and would sort of “lap” over and over! Lately he prefers to have his hands in his mouth–sometimes both, but usually just one, as much in as possible.

We just returned from our first road trip and he did such a good job in the car–even if the car seat is probably still not his favorite spot. We timed drives to naptimes and either gave him expressed milk from a bottle or a pacifier to help him drift off to sleep. He slept so well with all the jiggling. In fact, he slept so well on that trip! Every night was better than the last… six hours turned to nine hours by the end. But we haven’t been as lucky since returning  (in fact the first night back was reminiscent of week six) and so we are working hard to simulate vacation at home (as contradictory as that sounds). It was disheartening, and Friday–our first day back–felt really overwhelming. We had been especially excited because just before the trip we were looking into solutions for colic–cutting dairy from my diet, keeping him upright as much as possible… and were so relieved by the change that seemed to come simply with time. Now we are working on establishing our nighttime routine.

Finally, while we were taking his monthly photo, Hudson seemed to notice his toes for the first time! It was so funny; it was as if they suddenly appeared out of nowhere with a little sound effect–something like “boing!” from an episode of Bewitched. He was puzzled. Then transfixed. And then he kept pushing out his feet along the couch and feeling it before kicking about. It really is so incredible to watch his eyes widen as he discovers something new. We can actually see him learning.

[P.S. Look familiar? Originally posted on www.babymine.net. Thanks for understanding: we’re migrating our monthly photos series to Hither & Thither]

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