The Tristan Report - 4 months

I realized the other day that I couldn't remember when it was that Tristan was first standing on our laps. Or exactly when he first smiled (though I did write that one down in his baby book). So I decided to put some of what Tristan can do as of his 4 month birthday here for all to enjoy. Perhaps I should have been doing this all along, and perhaps I'll continue it at least monthly after this. We'll see.

Tristan is smiling a lot now. When I get him after a nap. When he see's E for the first time upon his arrival home. At some people, especially one of the mommies in my Wednesday mommies group. He's such a flirt!

Tristan has been really looking at everything. When we go on walks, he watches the trees go by. When we play on the floor, he looks at the pictures on the quilt I put on the floor. (Side note, it's my baby quilt. Which is blue. My mom really did think I was going to be a boy.) He examines the cloth pattern on the couch. He likes the shadows cast by the early morning light. The crane mobile I hung above his changing table is fascinating, from the crib or table.

Tristan can sit up by himself for a few seconds. I help him sit up, then he balances there for a few seconds, until he slowly leans to one side. He seems to like it. It doesn't happen every time he sits up (often he's trying to suck on my hand and can't be bothered with balancing), but it's happened multiple times.

Tristan is napping. Really napping. For more than 30 minutes. It's a new feat, it only started 4 days ago, so it might be a fluke. But suddenly I see how SAHMs can get things done during the day. I'm crossing my fingers it continues!

On his 4 month birthday, Tristan moved into the medium size prefold diapers and 6-9 month clothes. He's getting to be a very big boy, 18 lbs, 7 oz, and 26.5 inches long! I'm actually finding that the 9-12 month old onsies fit him pretty well, with only a little bit of extra length.

Tristan is laughing. Mostly when E acts like a monkey (see the video we posted on facebook). But also when we tickle him. We discovered how ticklish he is when taking off his shirt one night. Now he gets intentional daily/nightly tickles! His laugh is so cute!

Tristan is drooling. A lot. He doesn't have any teeth buds that I or the pediatrician can detect. But if this is his 'normal' drool, I don't want to know what it's going to be like when he is teething. He's already soaking at least 4 burp cloths (and my shirt) every day. And he drools more when he's standing on our laps. Which means he drools A LOT!

Tristan is talking. He babbles in the morning when he's ready to get up for the day (Mom, come get me and feed me, OK? Mom? Mom, get up!) And he babbles when he's done with his breakfast (Wow, that was yummy! But no, I don't want any more. A burp and a diaper change would be good though.) And he does his tongue exercises, where he sticks out his tongue and tries different sounds while wiggling it. It's pretty cute.

Tristan has not yest mastered rolling, but he's on his way. He can get from his back to his side, and especially likes to do this when he's done eating. Which means I get to play 'catch Tristan', because one second he's eating, and the next he launches himself from his side to his back to his other side, and starts rolling off my lap.

Tristan is able to lift his head and look around when he's on his tummy. He hasn't figured out the coordination to lift his head while pushing with his legs yet, but every day he's closer. It was just a week ago that he couldn't push up with his arms, and he started doing that a few days ago. You can see how much he REALLY wants to crawl, so he can get things more easily!

Tristan has started passing things from one hand to another. For a while, it seemed he might be a lefty, because he was grabbing and manipulating things with his left hand. But now his right hand has caught up. And he's grabbing with both. And passing things back and forth. So now I'm not sure, we'll have to wait and see which hand becomes more dominant.

That's all I can think of now. I'll try to keep this up, and maybe go back and blog about some earlier feats. Stay tuned!