update on Josh

We went to Joshua's four-month doctor's visit on Monday and all is well, as expected.  The doctor told us that he was growing perfectly.  She checked on his physical development and seemed pleased.  She asked about his eating and sleeping patterns and seemed satisfied.  I talked to her about his 45 minute naps and how difficult it has been to break him of that and she said that some babies just don't nap longer than that at a time.  She seemed more interested in the fact that he usually only sleeps at night from about 9 or 9:30 to 4:30 before he wants to nurse again.  She said that she hoped starting him on solid foods would help that.  I agreed.

We gave him his first taste of rice cereal on Monday.  He impressed me so much.  I have never seen a baby so completely understand how to eat on their first try as he did.  He opened his mouth for the spoon and even turned his head in the direction of it a few times.  He was able to swallow it pretty well.  I think I made it a little too runny, but I'll get it figured out soon.

He got his shots and did OK with those.  The standard bottom lip pooched out and turned down as he screamed for about a minute.  I was able to comfort him easily until he remembered he was supposed to be in pain again and started screaming a bit more.  It was funny to see him go back immediately to smiling as I got him dressed though.

Monday evening and all day yesterday he ran a low temperature.  He's also cutting a bottom tooth or two because his gums are swollen and he's gnawing on everything so the temperature could also be partly due to that.  One time yesterday he bit down on his own finger and then screamed LOUDLY for a few seconds.

Our bedtime routine is helping get him down at night a lot more easily.  You can disagree with me if you want, but I firmly believe that having a firm bedtime and wake-time really helps.  Since I started waking him up at the same time every morning (7:30am) and putting him down at the same time every night (9pm) he has really been easier to get to sleep.  Yesterday he took an hour nap in the crib on his own in the morning.  I think this is great progress although it's slow going.  We'll get there someday soon, I hope.

Anyway, he's doing great.  Here are his four-month stats:

weight: 17 lbs 7 oz
length: 25 7/8 inches
head circumference: 16 3/4 inches

He's consistently staying in the 90th percentile for length and between the 90th and 97th percentile for weight.  His head is measuring around the 50th percentile.