Happy 4 Months Wren

This past month Wren has begun to grasp so many things. Physically she's holding onto rattles and spatulas and balls. She'll get a good hold of her curly locks and tug and twirl her own hair. She rolls over, although not a ton. If she had to choose lying on her belly or back, she much prefers belly with her head held high looking around. She really dislikes lying on her back. She refuses to keep her head or feet on the ground and instead instantly goes into a "V" position essentially balancing on her tailbone with her legs and torso lifted off the ground. Perhaps this is a yoga pose and she's just searching hard for a little zen.

She's also grasping "object permanence" as our Ped says. While it's not yet separation anxiety, she'll get sad, pucker her lip and cry if her short list of family (Me, Joe, Max and Otto) isn't visible. My sister said while she was watching the kids one day that Wren cried a couple times when it was just the two of them in a room together. But when Jamie brought her out by Max & Otto she lit up, smiled and all was right in her world again (at least that's how I'm going to interpret it because quite frankly I wonder how much those two boys just give her a little anxiety like they give me with their loud shrieks, rough and tumble play and general BOY-NESS).

Joe got to see first hand how much we love (and are loved) at our favorite coffee shop. While he and I were there one Sunday morning with just Wren (boys were at G&G's), a middle aged lady walked up to Joe, who was holding Wren, and exclaimed "You must be Wren's dad!" Joe gave me this look like "Really? Wren's on a first name basis with customers here???" Is she ever! I'm telling you, we've had a good month.

Wren is definitely "finding her voice" as well. And while her use of it ebbs and flows, when she does use it, she usually does so with gusto. She doesn't exactly "giggle" like you think of when you think of a baby. She has these belly laughs that seem to come deep from her belly. She works hard to make the sound. It's almost like a big guffaw. They are in a deep voice and kind of chortle-y. Or she'll "wind up" and work hard to let out some hoarse shrieks and squeals. They frighten me a little. I worry she's trying to be the squeakiest wheel in order to be heard...and many days I'm just plain out of grease.

I have a baby book for each kid and given they are all the same template, I refrain from reading what I wrote about the previous kids before writing comments in the next kid's book. In each book there's a space to write about "Daily Routine." After writing my comments in Wren's book, I went back and read what I wrote in Max and Otto's books. While Max's talked about things we did (i.e., ECFE class, playdates, Target runs), I also inserted a print out of a color-coded Excel document that I created to track his eat/sleep/poop/pump schedule in 15 minute increments. Although I only did this for Max's 1st week home, it shows how crazy I was (and despite my earnest attempt to get it right, I think I failed miserably for a couple weeks at getting him fed and to bed when needed!). Otto's "Daily Routine" touches on the things we did like cook, etc, but also states that many of his naps were in the stroller vs his crib as I juggled a toddler and a newborn. A hint at the much more relaxed parenting approach taken with baby #2. And Wren? Her "Daily Routine" comments were "I feed her when she seems hungry. I help her sleep when she's tired. We try to make her smile when she's awake." Amen.

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At Wren's 4 month check-up she was officially "off the charts" on both height (just under 27 inches) and weight (17 lbs, 10 oz). However, they tell you she's 99% on both because our Ped doesn't list anyone as 100% or greater. Maybe she'll be 99.9% at her 6 month appointment ;) In any case, she's easily the size of a one year old and when you add in her head of hair she looks to be closer to two. This is heart-wrenching as I try to cling to every little bit of baby she's ever had in her.

We'll still continue to celebrate Wren's monthly birthday, but beginning with this month I've done away with candles and singing. I guess I want to make sure that there's something still 'sacred' for her actual first birthday. Of course we still have a special treat. I'll use the 17th of each month as a chance to try a new dessert. For February I made Chocolate Bread Pudding from Flour (the recipe called for white bread, but I experimented with chocolate bread). You can't really go wrong when you start with 3 cups of Half and Half and end with 3 more cups of Half and Half.