Five months? Oh my goodness. I can’t believe it. And yet it feels like Hudson has doubled in size this past month. Aron and I seemed to independently note, around the same time, the feeling of saying goodnight to Hudson and walking in the next morning to find that he looked huge!
Looking back over some notes I jotted down about his fourth month, the phrase that seems to come up a lot is “roller coaster.”
First the lows: We started the month off on a rough note when we all came down with colds. And it’s so sad when your baby is sad; Hudson dramatically puffs out his lower lip, and his eyes fill with real tears now when he cries. We were also still getting used to Aron’s longer days, and the start of this month included lots of weekend obligations for him, too. Then, when we finally had a free Sunday together, we drove out to the West Side Highway to get our Christmas ornaments out of storage and our car was towed. As much as it pained us to pay the astronomical fee, it was equally painful to (1) know that an entire bottle of breastmilk had been towed, too, and (2) know that one of Aron’s few days off would include splitting-up to get the car out of the tow-lot. Still, I have a feeling we’ll be looking back and laughing at the very idea that living in New York might mean you store your Christmas ornaments on the West Side Highway. Then there was that rumored week-19 sleep regression. Either we were trying too hard too stretch out his waking-hours too soon, or he just confirmed that rumor to be true. Suddenly his naps were erratic and his nightwakings frequent. It was a reminder that sleep is a moving target. It also happened to coincide with the start of construction on our floor. Our neighbors are breaking through the ceiling and the pounding has begun. The estimated time to complete the work? Four months. Ouch.
And yet it still feels like the highs far outnumbered the lows.
He’s back to being quite good at putting himself to sleep in his crib, and we usually just hear him sort of singing himself to sleep and making (apparently) soothing razzy noises.
Actually, blowing bubbles and making razzy noises is big on his list of favorite things right now. When I hug him, he’ll often blow raspberries on my shoulder, and sometimes I even get them on my lips when I kiss him. (Now that’s love). Speaking of kisses, it’s not yet consistent, but if I say “kiss, kiss” and make a smooching sound he’ll sometimes grab my face and plant a big, open-mouth smooch. Slobbery or not, it’s the best.
When something is exciting (and most things are lately), he furiously pumps his little fists into his sides and breathes heavily. He smiles big, wide, gummy grins (with a heap of drool) and does these little coughs. And now he genuinely giggles and laughs, too! Of course we’ll do just about anything he wants if it makes him laugh. It’s addictive. The tub has recently become a source of fun and he splashes and kicks and he no longer cries when the water gets in his eyes. He’s also more interested in playing with the baby in mirror and reaches out to meet the baby’s fingers. He grabs for our glasses and silverware, trying to intercept them as they go up to our mouths–and anything that goes into our mouths seems to both puzzle and fascinate him. We just bought him his first spoons because trying solids is just around the corner. When Aron reads him a book, he’ll flip the pages, and he also likes to close cupboard doors when they cook together.
He started rolling over at the end of month three, but he still isn’t quite sure what to do once he’s on his tummy. Just recently, however, he learned how to use that skill to reach higher from his playmat–rolling onto his side and stretching out his little fingers to hit the top of the playmat’s arch. Still, given the option, I think he’d stand up all the time (and bounce). But being on his back does have the advantage of allowing him to grab his feet and put his toes into his mouth. He rolls right up like a little hedgehog.
We have learned that he does not like the cold. When we step outside on a cold, breezy afternoon, he starts moaning or making little-old-man-clearing-his-throat sounds. On the upside, he’s making peace with his snowsuit. For a while he was also screeching and screaming a lot and we had to keep out of restaurants, but thank goodness that seems to have passed (and just in time for our flight to California). Now, with his longer waking hours and his growing interest in what’s happening around him, we’re finding our way back to brunch and the like.
He’s completely exhausting and we practically collapse into bed every night around 10pm, but there’s nothing that can make a 3am wake-up call as tolerable as coming in to find him smiling in his crib, incredibly happy to see us and then in two or three (pretty please make it three) more hours, incredibly excited to start his day.
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