Timothy's Fourth Month

Timothy has been settling into a pretty consistent nap routine this month, 2 hours in the morning, 1.5-2 hours in the early afternoon, and a later afternoon 30-45 min nap. It's made it a little harder for me to want to get out and do things, because we so often disrupt his nap times being out, and he sleeps so well in his crib! Church is usually right during nap time, but he is still doing pretty well sleeping in the carrier. I'm not sure how long that will last!

He likes his crib so much that we've completely switched him to sleeping in the crib all night. The transition to our room was starting to disturb him and he'd waking up instead of sleeping through the move. So we started leaving him in the crib until he woke up for his first feeding around midnight-1am. But then we found that he seemed to sleep less soundly in the cosleeper, so I started putting him back in his crib after his second night feeding around 4-5am. Finally after a few nights of him only sleeping in our room for those few wee hours, I decided I should just let him sleep in the nursery all night, and now instead of nursing him in our bed, I get up and go to the nursery to feed him. 

It was a nice, gradual transition, and he's been sleeping quite well in the nursery. Matt sleeps better because after the few initial squawks from the monitor, I turn it off and he gets peace and quiet instead of listening to Timothy's noisy eating, Timothy sleeps better because his crib is more comfy and my tossing around doesn't disturb him, and I sleep better because I'm not worried about waking him up in my attempts to get comfortable and go back to sleep after feeding. He's even given us several nights this month where he only woke once! 

We still think he's teething, there is just SO much drool! And he wants to chew on everything! But no visible sign of teeth yet that I can tell. He likes chewing on knuckles (Daddy's is his favorite) and his carriers when we're wearing him, but he'll chew on anything he can get in his mouth.

He's also more fussy lately, but we figure that's just because he's been in Leap 4 this month. This is the "world of events" and is supposedly the worst leap yet. So far it really hasn't been so bad, and only a few more days until he's supposed to be finished leaping! I can't wait to see what new skills will be emerging as he finishes the leap!

He likes grabbing faces, pulling hair, playing with toys that make noise and facing out in the carrier with Daddy! He can scoot around a bit during tummy time, and is very wiggly. He'll sometimes try to squirm off of a lap when he's being held. He finally discovered his toes! He's also getting even more vocal, and makes louder squeals than ever before! He usually wakes up in the morning talking, which is so cute, but sometimes he's woken up very excited, and we've been startled awake by his happy shrieks!

His rattle has been one of his favorite toys this month, he will examine it closely, wave it around, shake it, and of course, try to put it in his mouth! He's been trying to roll from his back onto his front, and can do it with only a little help from me! He also loves his Lambie and a vintage stuffed dog/teether that my folks brought from their collection of our old baby toys!

This month Timothy got to meet his great-aunt Deborah, and great-uncle Mark, on Daddy's side of the family, which was very exciting for all of us, I had never met them before either! We had a very fun weekend with lots of laughter and stories of memories. 

He also got to meet his great-aunt Melody, great-aunt Kathy and cousin Barbara (twice removed) on my mom's side when they came down for a Seagrove trip with my mom. Aunt Mel gave him this beautiful cross stitch that she had actually started working on for me, when I was a baby! 

And to finish out the month (actually a couple days after he officially turned 4 months, but I'm including it now anyway) we took him on his first overnight trip! We spent two nights in Williamsburg, and he did so well! We switched him to a convertible car seat because he had began to seem uncomfortable in his infant seat, and I'm so glad we did. We timed our departure to coincide with his usual 2-hour morning nap, and after an initial scare when he woke up after only 30 minutes, he went back to sleep and did end up sleeping for 2 hours of the trip. The rest of the drive he happily played with his toys.

Our other concern was how well he would sleep in his co-sleeper, since he's been in his comfy crib for most of this month. Our trials didn't go well, so we ended up purchasing a new, softer mattress to go in the co-sleeper, and with that adjustment he seemed to sleep just as well as at home! He had fun hanging out in the condo that we shared with his Uncle Dave, Aunt Lizzie and cousin Edison.

He also pretty much behaved while we walked around Williamsburg, sleeping in the carrier with Daddy most of the time. But we went in the Capitol building, and while the tour guide/reenactor was talking, he woke up and decided he wanted to talk too! Matt tried to entertain him by letting him chew on his knuckle, but he just continued talking around it! It was very amusing, and a little embarrassing. Overall it was a wonderful trip, and I'm putting it down as an amazingly successful experiment of traveling with Timothy!