Liam and Gibson: A Third of a Year

Happy Four Months to Liam today! Time flies when you're having fun, and he has become a lot of fun.

His four month check up won't be until next week, so I don't have his official stats yet. I started volunteering teaching ESL at church on Wednesday mornings, and had to reschedule today's appointment because of that.

At four months, he has become an excellent tummy-timer, but does eventually start protesting. He is pushing up all the way on his arms some now and kicking those legs. I don't think it will be too long before he accidentally rolls himself over. He will occasionally roll over from his back to his front, but he usually prefers to roll up on his side and stay there...and nom on toys. Speaking of nomming on toys...teething has come upon him, and it is no fun. No fun at all. He went from sleeping 8-9 hours at night to waking up screeching every 2.5 to 3 hours during the night. And then of course, there's the random crying out in pain throughout the day. Thankfully, it doesn't happen every day. And last night, he slept from 10 pm until 5:30 am, woke up and ate, and went back to sleep until almost 8 am. Maybe there is hope after all! So far frozen pacifiers rubbed over his gums and biting on my finger wrapped in a cold, wet washcloth have helped. We've also used teething tablets, and I've found they work better if I dissolve it in water and rub it on his gums with a q-tip. I've ordered an amber teething necklace, and I'm really hoping that will help a lot. He also has a Sophie the Giraffe teething toy. This is just the beginning of our teething adventure!

Liam is a strong baby; he always has been. He's really good at standing and putting weight on his legs. We love to pull him from a laying on his back position to standing up by holding his hands. I'm hoping to get an exersaucer or maybe one he can jump with soon. I think he would like that. I work with him on sitting up just holding on to his hands. His body is still a little wobbly, but he has excellent head control. One of his favorite things to do now is arch his back up. He has almost flung himself out of his bouncy seat doing that. I'm hoping to phase out the bouncy seat soon. Perhaps we'll start using the Bumbo more.

He's also a happy baby (when his mouth isn't hurting). He loves to give us big grins and he's giggling more and more.You wouldn't know it by looking at pictures of him, though, because he still stops smiling as soon as he sees the camera!