She's in love with the boy

I spoke with another mom this past week and we lamented the sad fact of just how quickly time passes with little ones. It really does seem as if the last four months have flown by since Caleb joined our family. (Ironic, isn't it, how each day seems to drag by so slowly, but when you look back at the past months, they seem to have passed in the blink of an eye?)

At four months our little man is growing cuter and more active by the day. He's proven he can roll over (or be rolled by his sister if she gets tired of waiting for him to flop onto his belly on his own), but he doesn't do it often. I think he realizes that rolling over lands him on his tummy. (Tummy time is classified as one of his very least favorite things ever...so much so that he'll blister his toes kicking and pushing against the floor to try to flip back over.)

He's ticklish in the oddest of places. Belly poking and running fingers over the bottoms of his little feet do little to amuse him, but something about getting dressed and undressed just tickles him silly. It seems the backs of his arms and his neck are terribly sensitive, which makes peeling clothes on and off of him a pretty intense giggle-fest.

He's quite social, and rewards whatever attention he gets from us with a big toothless grin that shows off his adorable dimples. Look away, and it only takes an instant for that smile to turn into a pretty exaggerated pout.

Caleb's getting more and more adept with his hands and fingers. He loves to grab at his toys, my hair and his big sister's curls, and finds sucking on his index and middle finger to be quite satisfying. When those two fingers aren't enough, he'll punch at his own face until he lands a couple of fingers from each hand into his mouth.

His little grunts and coos are nonstop in the morning and when he wakes up from his naps, and are starting to take on more vocal sounds. After 12 hours of sleep, it seems as if he's got lots to catch us up on after breakfast. His naps have fallen into a predictable routine: two hours in the morning, 2.5 hours in the afternoon and about an hour at night. (I had a mommy victory a few weeks ago when I managed to organize their naps in such a way that I have both of them napping at the same time after lunch. Yay for 2.5 hours of peace and quiet each afternoon!)

Caleb's four-month check-up found him in excellent health, weighing in at a hefty 16 lbs, 3 oz. and stretching out to 26 inches tall. His development seems to be right on track, and the doctor was pleased with how well he sits up with assistance. He's been trying to pull his upper body up on his own, but so far can only lift his head and shoulders off the floor. When we offer him our fingers as leverage, he's able to pull his chunky little body into a sitting position. From this angle, his head is usually on a swivel as he tries to keep his eyes on his big sister running circles around him.

I still get emotional thinking back to a year ago when we found out we were pregnant and the uncertainty that came with the positive pregnancy test. Seeing our little Peanut--just a little blob of a baby at that point--moving around on the ultrasound was an answer to the first of many prayers that would mark my second pregnancy. Now here he is, our little miracle, a true testimony of God's faithfulness!