Eighteen weeks.

You are fourth months old. You feel bigger and more solid in arms, your strength sometimes surprising us. Your laugh is a great breathless squeak and you flap your arms in conjunction with it. You crane your neck to watch one of us across the room and flip onto your belly with ease... getting onto your back still proves difficult though sometimes you do it with very little effort without realizing. Peach fuzz is growing where you rubbed the hair off of the back of your head. Your fingernails grow so fast! Before I know it you've got sharp talons that threaten me at every nursing. Of course you love to touch my face and grab my clothes. You really do astoundingly well in the car, almost always content, often asleep. You have tasted a whole banana with gusto, mushy sweet potato, avocado in both plain and guacamole forms, a lime wedge, salt off of my finger, kalamata olive juice, and a lick of a perfect organic strawberry. You'll hold a bottle with your own two hands although you've only had one twice. You are fascinated by the menagerie of cats and dogs that live with us and sometimes your face gets licked while my back is turned. 

You are still sleeping from about 8:00 to 8:00, although there was a week in the mix where we were all off schedule. You have spent many an hour outside with us. We take long walks with the dog, work in the yard and garden, lay in the grass on blankets next to Tiny V... babies sure love the open air. We found a whole clover in your mouth once. You do not enjoy a fine misting of cool water and the look of shock on your face after a gentle spritzing was painful but cute. You take naps where you play, now an expanded side of the living room underneath the sliding glass doors. You can see the trees and often roll onto your belly and stare at them. 

This week you were watched by Grandma, though you slept the whole time. We paid visits to two different friends where you were sweet and wide eyed. You lounged on a sheepskin rug and showed off your rolling skills. One morning this weekend we woke up and you weren't in the bed! You were in the middle of the bedroom floor grinning gummily at us from six feet away. Goodbye immobility! You notice the screens of a tv or phone more than we would like. Absolutely everything goes in your mouth these days. You blow spit bubbles and can move a toy from hand to hand. You sit like a little gorilla, toppling over eventually. We stand you up by your hands and you bounce and pant with excitement. Pop taught you how to smack your lips and click your tongue. You watch us intently and will stop crying if we smile at you. You have lengthened considerably and also spent the last two weeks eating far more frequently. You are in a near constant state of growth! You were pooping once a week, now it's every day! This seems to keep you in high spirits, as it should.

Strangers always comment on your cheeks, your content nature, and your bare feet. You draw people with an almost magnetic force. I never put socks on you since you overheat so easily... you're that baby wearing just a tee shirt and are often naked to boot. You are by all accounts "easy" and your more complicated traits are a lesson in patience for us. I am sometimes surprised and frustrated by sudden voracious bouts of hunger when you seemingly just ate. You will display sudden shyness towards people when you would otherwise be smiling. You twist and kick so hard that we can't put on your diaper. You will cry at the sound of a throat clearing and an unattended wet diaper almost always gets you wailing. When you wake up you smile hugely at us. You choose to sleep on your stomach now, two faithful fingers safely tucked away in your mouth. You self soothe quite well and during the day I am able to leave you on a blanket for long periods of time without a fuss. We are gearing up for your first plane trip and hotel stay in a few short weeks.

We bid goodbye to some of your babyhood this weekend as we planted a tree over your placenta behind the cabin in which you were born. There's a little baby forest growing back there. We look forward to visiting your tree throughout your life. We thanked it for all its nourishment. We would have liked for you to sprinkle some dirt over it but you just would have eaten it instead. You're growing strong and tall and intensely sweet. I don't mind leaving the newborn stage behind us. The newness was fun but the comfort of experience has won me over. Seeing older babies is a thrill- an interesting preview if you like. We have basked in your tininess but also welcome any and all changes. You just keep doing your thing, we will do our best to keep up.