The last few weeks have been a lot of fun - so many new experiences. One of them is solid foods. So far he likes things that can be pureed very smooth - apples, pears, sweet potatoes and so on. He's got a sweet tooth like his mummy! He does not like squash, carrots or yams. I think he has something against orange.

Peter went to the beach this weekend for the first time, at least the first time that he could really take it in - that was a lot of fun. He was quite befuddled by the sand, picking it up and dropping it. Silly me let him lie on his back though and soon he had dumped a handful right into his mouth and eyes. Woops! It was a little chilly for an ocean dip, so we will postpone that experience.

He is sitting up quite solidly now. He does wobble a bit, so I try not to go too far from him, but at other times he can sit for a good five or six minutes straight. He is also starting, just in the past couple of days, to mobilize a little bit. He does this two ways - on his tummy, he is starting to do a little bit of an army crawl. Now Peter is an easily frustrated guy so he does start to cry a bit when he does this, particularly as he often manages to maneuver himself backwards rather than forwards. The other thing he has started doing is scooting a tiny bit on his hands. He can push himself a little bit while sitting and he moves a centimetre or too. He is experimenting a lot with balancing himself in a tripod position and wiggling around from there - leaning over to get things and so on.

He has some new mannerisms as well - he has discovered his ear, and he tends to tug on it when he's tired. He is also looking at his hands more these days - I am hoping that he may clap soon, or make some other sort of sign. That would be a lot of fun. I am still doing some sign language with him, and he does seem to understand some. When I sign "Up" or "All done" he will often lift his arms in preparation for being picked up.

Now this may be too much information for some, but there are some disadvantages to a baby who eats solids. As a result, I have been occasionally putting him on the potty when I notice he is pooping. I'd say he manages to go in the toilet about 50% of the time - and that's a win/win for everyone! I haven't tried with pees yet - I'm not quite that ambitious.

He definitely recognises voices now; the other day I was watching a short video I took the night before when Julian came home. Julian was saying "Hi Peter!" and Peter smiled and looked around expectantly. As well, I find that I can now calm him down a bit by saying "Peter, I'm right here!" Or "I'll be back in a moment" when he starts to fuss because I'm out of sight.

We have been taking Baby Sign for a while now and he is definitely starting to recognise some signs. For example, if I do the "up" sign he'll wiggle or even reach out if he wants up. And when I do the "breastfeeding" sign he gets quite excited if he is hungry, although that one's a bit more hit and miss, probably because I've been less consistent with it. I also use some signs and words to tell him what we are doing next, i.e. "diaper change" or "bath" and it seems to register. When I give him warning he doesn't seem as peeved when he is stripped from the waist down.

He continues to like animals. The other day we spent several hours in a house with a golden lab. That night he spent quite a while looking looking at a picture of an identical lab on his exersaucer and smiled when he first noticed it.

Another big development has been that he has taken milk from a sippy cup - that's exciting as it means I don't have to worry so much if I leave him for a couple of hours. He still needs help holding the cup up though he'd prefer to do it himself. At this rate he'll be feeding himself before long! What's next - making bacon and eggs for Mum and Dad?

What is this thing?	Hey, not bad!

He absolutely loves his Dad and Grandma and gets very excited he sees them, giving them lots of smiles. If he is feeding, he will keep looking up to make sure they are still nearby. It makes for a rather prolonged feeding session! He reaches out to people and tries to touch them and grab their face or hair. He even reaches out to his own reflection. "Hmmm..." he must be thinking, "why is that baby so cold and hard?" When he wakes up from a nap fussy and at odds with the world, he will pause when he catches a glimpse of himself and he'll smile at his friend in the mirror. He also reaches out for the cat. Unfortunately "gentle" is not a concept he has mastered yet, so he likes to grab her fur and bring it towards his mouth.

He keeps me in view at all times - if I go out of sight for too long, he kicks up quite a fuss unless there is someone else around to entertain him. He is not one to play contentedly on his mat for very long. But part of that (I think) is because he is still not very good at being able to get what he wants on his own. He has been rolling for two months now, but he is still not a roll-y baby. He will go a week or more without rolling before he does it again. He does not really move around very much on his own and hasn't quite figured out that he could actually get closer to a toy if he just rolled a bit.

It's funny because he will roll on his change mat, reaching for the spray bottle or other items nearby. I have to strap him in now. Ah yes - roll when you're four feet off the floor, but not when lying on a padded surface designed for that very purpose. Who knows - maybe that big heavy diaper weighs him down.

Another big milestone is that he has started to sit unsupported. He has done it before for a second here or there, but today he did it for a prolonged time. He is certainly still at high risk for toppling, but I think that in another week or two he will be able to sit up nicely. I am hoping that once he gets the hang of sitting he will be more content as he will be able to reach for things that are nearby. I live in hope!

One of the best things that he does is laugh when you're laughing. He is not fooled by fake laughter either - I know, I've tried. But if someone is laughing, he will laugh as well - even looking at the same thing. He totally pretends that he gets the joke! It's so cute.

One area where we are still struggling is sleep. Peter naps quite well now, but he just cannot seem to stay down for a good stretch at night. All I can say is that I am thankful that I live in a country where I have time off - I can nap during the day. I cannot imagine trying to function in a full-time job given my current sleep schedule, which rarely involves more than a two or three hour stretch. Ouch. But I guess a little sleep deprivation is a small price to pay.

This was shot a week or so ago... he doesn't laugh very often yet, but I can't wait until he does.

Another thing he does lately is try to make people laugh. When Grandma started laughing at him as he did his funny little wiggle (he arches his back ramrod straight and tucks his chin down into his neck), he smiled, paused, then repeated it. The more she laughed, the more he did it, over and over.

Just hanging:

"Hmm... how can I get these in my mouth?"

"Hey Mum? Dad says it's okay if I go out tonight..."

"Obama won Iowa? Cool!"

As for the rest, here's a summary of Peter's fourth month of life on video...

Nine weeks was a big milestone for us - I can't quite put my finger on what changed, but it just got a little bit easier. It's not that the crying lessened, but somehow the reasons for it became more discernable. Now at 12 weeks he has changed even more and cries even less (though he is MUCH louder!) But he gets more babylike, and more human, every day. He's very interested in what's going on around him and he gives me lots of smiles every day. He loves getting kisses and acts all coy after he smiles.

He's also doing all kinds of things he couldn't do just a few weeks ago. One of his new skills is grasping things. He is starting to realise that he can hold something in his hand (albeit somewhat involuntarily) and he will try to bring his hand to his mouth to explore it. He's also able to sit up when holding onto my fingers, though he does weeble and wobble all around. It's pretty cute! He really enjoys his chimes, and his caterpillar, which plays music. He also enjoys it when you shake his "grabby elephant" at him, and he can clutch it for a few minutes at a time. Lately he will even lie on his playmat for quite extended periods entertaining himself even when I am not nearby. Trust me - this is MAJOR! We've also inadvertently discovered that he loves watching TV, although only certain channels.

Peter has also grown like a weed. He was almost double his birth weight at two months. Normally that happens in four to six months - so his gain has been pretty impressive. Kind of makes all those sleepless nights worth it! Anyway, he has now outgrown his bassinette and now sleeps in a crib in our room (at least when we can convince him to sleep there!) He is still up frequently in the night, so it's easier just to have him close so I only have to half-wake to feed him. He goes to bed much earlier too, which means that we get a nice stretch in evening to relax (interspersed with the occasional "request" for comfort.)

For the first few weeks he would typically have a "witching" time in the evening. As new parents it took us a while to clue into the fact that babies sometimes cry because they're tired. Finally we figured out he was just overtired and we started putting him to bed earlier and earlier, so now he pretty much sleeps through the witching hour. But having experimented with bedtime, we've realised that if we miss his window we set ourselves up for a long night! He's also getting to be less of a light sleeper. In early days it was impossible to set him down if he fell asleep in your arms, as he'd awaken immediately. But now we can coax him into the crib. He still needs quite a bit of help to fall asleep though, be it rocking or bouncing or simply patting his tummy.

I will admit that Peter is a bit of a mama's (and papa's) boy. He definitely knows who we are and can be quite perturbed if he is handed off to someone else. The other day I was out and I gave him to someone to hold while I went to the bathroom. (Finding a way to go to the bathroom when you're out in public with a baby is a real trick if there are no willing "holders" around!) When I got back he was screaming his head off and the holder was worried that he was in real pain. But as soon as he was handed back to me he was fine again. But I was very pleased today when I stumbled across Santa at the Oakridge Centre and Peter tolerated being held by him for several pictures! (He did however scream bloody murder when I put him back in the front carrier.) He does like to ham it up for the photos - he did the same thing at our prenatal class reunion, yelping the whole party and then relaxing as soon cameras were out.

If I could give any advice to myself three months ago it would be this: Don't get too stressed about any particular habits - the refusal to sleep in the crib, the failure to nap (he has had a couple of stretches of being awake for about 10 hours!), the occasionally very needy days. It all changes so quickly that a week later I'm completely over the last challenge and struggling to figure out the next one. Definitely the hardest, yet most rewarding job I've ever had.

Peter is now officially no longer a newborn - six weeks old and life is good. Here he is crashed out in his chair after coming home from a walk outside.

In the past couple of weeks he had the chance to meet his paternal grandmother and grandfather, and even graced the former with a smile! He also met his uncle Tony, who he was quite charmed with.

Other than that, life is pretty simple - Peter and I went to Movies for Mommies for the second time, where he was quite well-behaved, or maybe it's just that you don't notice when you're in a theatre full of crying babies. He still sleeps for the lion's share of the day and becomes quite cranky if he doesn't, but he fights sleep! As I speak, I have a very loud little boy being bounced on a ball by his Dad. He does occasionally fall asleep on his own, but he then wakes up as soon as he senses that we have strayed out of a six-foot radius. But night time is better; he is getting to bed a bit earlier at night and doesn't stay awake for very long when he feeds, so that's been a good development. At night he often sleeps four-hour stretches, which has meant a world of difference for me, because for a while he was up every two hours and neither of us back to sleep again right away. His weight gain continues apace and I weighed him on Thursday at a mum's group - he was 12 lb 3 oz.

Yesterday he smiled at both Julian and me; not just the sort of random smiles that babies get, but a genuine "Hey! How's it going?" smile. He has also started to coo a little bit. He is definitely very responsive to people. Today we had some photographers over to get some nice photos of him. Three women shook toys in his direction and smiled and clicked their cameras at him. He was soaking up the attention and remained wide-eyed and happy for almost two hours - an eternity in newborn time! He even showed off by holding his head up for a really long time, which is kind of funny since tummy time hasn't been too successful around here. Anyway, I will post some photos of him when we get them.

He is also starting to be able to entertain himself a little bit more as the video below demonstrates.

This entry took me about two hours to write because Peter woke up several times throughout (no, that's not hyperbole), so I'm off now to try and settle him for a good long stretch.

He is thriving is already up to 10 lb 9 oz, which is weight gain of 1 lb a week in the past three weeks. It doesn't sound like that much, but when you consider that's around a 40% weight gain, well, I'd say that's pretty good! I think most of it has gone to his cheeks. He is definitely filling out and looking more baby-like.

He can be a bit of high-maintenance guy, but he is quite portable. He screams bloody murder as we exit the building, but once I get the car moving he nods off and we are able to get a few things done. He also does pretty well being wrapped up and carried in a sling or wrap, which means that I can go for walks.
He's pretty good at letting us know what he doesn't like. For example, here is he is telling Julian that water in the face = bad.

He's sure to turn on the charm for his visitors though. Here he is with his uncle Tony. His Nana and Grand-Dad are arriving in town tomorrow and I'm sure they'll be charmed by him.