4.5 months and GROWING

We took Marian in for her four month appointment and boy has she grown.


The photo is not exactly a flattering one, but symbolic of the fact that she's in the 95th percentile for height and head circumference and the 90th percentile for weight (15lbs6oz)! She is growing like an (adorable) weed and full of energy and determination to move, move, move. Her Grancy got her a jolly jumper for Christmas and it is her most favorite activity (perhaps second only to eating!) - she'll sit in it and bounce and bounce and bounce, stop, contemplate, spin, then bounce, bounce, bounce. She's jumped to 6-9 month clothing, which fortunately she got a lot of for Christmas as well.
This stage of her development is a really fun one. She consistently smiles when she catches someone looking at her. And she laughs now -- the laughs are the best. There's nothing that consistently makes her laugh so when she does it catches us off guard and makes us laugh too. Sometimes it's being taller than us, when we hold her up in the air; sometimes it's when we change her clothes; sometimes it's when we're intentionally being goofy and sometimes not; sometimes it's when she catches sight of herself in the mirror. No matter what, it's wonderful.
She's also bound and determined to learn to crawl. She "tripods" with her head -- when lying on her back she'll use her legs and her head to inch backwards toward what she wants (usually her dad) and she'll attempt to do that when on her belly as well. Sometimes she'll "swim" on her belly, moving her arms and legs in an attempt to figure out the coordination of movement, but she hasn't quite learned to put weight on her various appendages and then coordinate them.
She's also obsessed with her dad -- if he's in the room, she's looking at him. Right now we split her child-care evenly so it's not as though he's strange to her; she just loves to look at him. It's adorable and proves that she is and has always been daddy's little girl.We've just begin to start her on solids -- rice cereal mixed with formula until she gets the hang of it and then the fun really begins. Stay tuned!