Four Months Old

It sure is wonderful to have a four month old in the house! I guess I've adjusted to the fact that I have a baby pretty well. I've only been startled by her existence once - she was about three weeks old and Mr. Peach had just gone back to work and I was picking up around the house... I walked into the living room and there was a baby asleep on the couch! It was quite a surprise for some reason.

This month has been a whirlwind. It seems that her development proceeds exponentially, a bigger explosion of new things happening every time I turn around. Just as I get used to one rhythm Pearl shakes things up and I work to adjust to the new beat of our days.



She is a master roller. The first part of this month she was flipping over like crazy as soon as I'd put her down, then she took a break, and this week she was picked it back up again, sometimes continuing from rolling to her front right on to her back again. She's done several variations of the tummy time pose, including pushing way up with her arms, trying to get her knees beneath her, and planting her face on the ground and sticking her butt up in the air. She looks so pleased after rolling over - usually. Sometimes it makes her mad, but I think those are times when she's cranky and anything would make her mad.

She has begun crying when I take away whatever she's playing with - her seahorse, a book, my hand. Once it's out of her sight because she drops it or I move it away she begans to wail. I think this is because the toys are distracting her from other things, like being tired or hungry, but she stops crying as soon as I give them back, so I don't know, maybe she is actually crying over the loss of the object itself. Either way, she is certainly more prone to this behavior when she is worn out.

Pearl has shown a preference for being in my arms for a while now but this month she's taken it to a new level by crying when she's in someone else's, excepting her daddy of course. This makes taking her to the inlaw's a bit hard for me as of course they want to hold her, but she doesn't want to be held by them. So I let her grandma hold her for a while, then Pearl's face just crumples up and I take her back.

She has learned how to chomp on her own hands so well that she would rather chomp her than mine... which doesn't make me as happy as I thought it would. I guess I'll have to get used to being sad about her independence at the same time I celebrate it, seeing as how it's only going to increase and all. Anyway, it's pretty cute to see her try to cram all ten fingers in her mouth.



This month has been the month of the laugh; like her first smiles, her first laughs aren't easy to get out of her. She finds different things funny at different times - laying on Mama's belly, getting kisses on her tummy, and Daddy's funny faces are all things that have the potential to bring a giggle.

Shortly after learning how to make smacking sounds with her lips Pearl learned how to make burbly sounds, blowing air through bubble-filled lips. She will combine those two sounds with a stream of 'hoo'ing sounds and go on and on.

She's using her hands now to explore our faces, grabbing our noses and patting our cheeks and tugging on Daddy's beard. She also yanks on my hair quite a bit which isn't so endearing. But overall it is great to see her stare at things with such fascination and be able to use her hands to learn about them. She gets such a cute look of concentration on her face; as my mom said, "She has the best intent look of any baby I've ever seen!"



Pearl loves her Daddy; it is so sweet to see her reaction to him. When he comes home she will stare at him like he is the most amazing thing she's ever seen and then burst into a huge smile. And naturally he loves her to pieces too, he says sometimes she's just so cute he can't stand it! We are so happy to have her in our family, she has increased the amount of love and joy around here to dizzying levels.

And she's only been around for four months. I can't wait to see how much better it gets.