Twenty weeks.

I wrote down almost nothing this week except the word FUSSY. You were often your usual sweet self but mostly in glimpses. You kept me worn out and hungry with around the clock feedings and Pop walked miles with you around the house and in restaurants. Four months brings a growth spurt and a sleep regression both of which hit you this past week. Indeed, you seemed to grow overnight and shirts that fit the week before no longer would go over your head. Baby growing pains are so difficult as they can't be explained or remedied- you just know something is up and you are going to let us know about it. As you should. Rest and good long meals are the only way to counteract the massive changes. Mentally as well, you are making leaps and bounds. No longer content to soothe yourself you much prefer someone to get down on your level and talk to you. We do this until you wear yourself out, giving us a chance to get dressed/eat lunch/shower. As you grow we can see your brain working to take things in, storing all this new knowledge for later. You make quick associations, recognizing familiar faces and acting calm in familiar places. We try not to expand your world too suddenly too soon, although with your first plane trip next week will land us smack dab in the middle of a brand new kind of experience. 

You are easily overstimulated right now and yet you want nothing more than to be overstimulated. It is a tricky scenario- too much and you'll melt down, too little and you'll melt down. This constant balancing act is easily derailed but we learn so much from the delicate one step forward two steps back dance we're doing. Busy days are followed by slow ones, lest you become an inconsolable ball of baby tears. For all your fussiness you manage to delight and surprise us all the time. This week you laughed for real. You tried to eat playing cards. We swung you in your swing and you grinned. You said "I love you!" or at least made sounds back at us that seemed to say it. You gnawed on tables, fingers, books, and green onions. You drooled so much. You grabbed toys with ease, passing them from hand to hand. You slowed your roll, thanks in part to gaining what feels like ten pounds. One afternoon you danced the hula while Pat played the ukulele while on a different evening Becca tested out your piano skills. 

It is harder and harder to feed you in an exciting or new environment. You forget that you are so hungry and proceed to look around, wide eyed, only to get frustrated all over again. The world around you is coming into focus and it has proved to be wonderfully overwhelming. When you are so over being inside we go out. A quick trip in the car or time passed in the yard does wonders for your disposition. Of course, too much time out of the house will throw you totally off. You had a nap strike twice wherein you refused to go down until way after lunch time, much to my dismay. Your bedtime was anywhere between 7:00 and 10:00 although I feel like we are veering closer to the 8:00 bedtime again. You are still rolling off the bed, though not as frequently. We are still enjoying a relatively dry nighttime streak- though the nights when you pee all over everything compensate for all those other dry ones. We do love our sleep though, and you seem to as well. You go down and wake up with only moderate fussing and in the evening Pop puts you to bed, reciting Goodnight Moon from memory.

You are still wonderfully chubby and your eyes appear hazel ish for now. You don't have much hair yet but it is growing in nicely where you rubbed it away in those early weeks. Your skin is the softest and perfectly pink. You do not have your mama's pale skin. We hope you won't be prone to sunburn either. Your eyelashes are long and dark. Your second toe is longer than the first. You scrunch your nose when something is funny and you have been exploring all the different volumes you can achieve. You are, as always, frustrated by your immobility and we can tell that crawling is just around the corner. You are ridiculously strong, doing full on push ups and standing for long stretches of time. Your heart seems to be on your sleeve. You are quick to cry but even quicker to smile. Everyone comments on your alertness, letting us know that we'll be "in for it later." All I know is we love being in it now.