16 Weeks Old

16 weeks! My how you have grown! I first told myself I was only going to keep up these biweekly posts through 8 weeks, then 12, but I just can't seem to stop. You do so many new things and I just want to capture it all. In the past 2 weeks, you have continued to awe and amaze.

You started laughing! It's the best thing. You open your mouth wide and it sounds very much like “ha ha” (as opposed to “hee hee” which I would call a giggle). You are still pretty selective in what merits a laugh, but when we can get you going it's so much fun! Daddy is actually much better than I at getting you laughing and I hope to capture this on video soon.

You are still sort of figuring out how to blow “raspberries” but it's cute watching you try. You have managed it pretty successfully once or twice.

You have started holding onto us tight when we hold you, especially when you are upset or very tired. You will put one arm around the neck and the other on the shoulder and squeeze tight. Your Aunt Brandee and I would call this a hug-around-the-neck and I absolutely adore it.

You have also gotten a much firmer hold onto my hair and I have been opting for ponytails on a daily basis. However, you're smart enough that you won't let that stop you. You've even figured out that there are those tiny little hairs at the base of my neck that don't fit into the ponytail and as far as you're concerned, those will do just fine.

Daddy doesn't have much hair for you to grasp, but you have found his beard in a big way. I encourage you to continue this as motivation for him to keep it trimmed nice and short. It's really cute when you hold onto it. A few days ago you were home with Daddy while I was at the grocery store and you got very upset. Daddy later told me that by the time he got you calmed down you were holding onto his beard with both hands, one on each side of his face, and you fell asleep lying next to him on the bed still holding on. I wish I could have been here to see that, I'm sure it was precious.

You have been sleeping through the night all the time now. In fact, the last time we got up during the night was way back on June 18, almost 3 weeks ago! One would think you would wake up famished after a whole night without eating, but you have been so sweet in the mornings. You stir around for awhile and when you do finally wake, you just kind of hang out in your crib until I come get you. No crying. You just lay there stretching and making your little waking up noises (Daddy would tell you I make waking up noises too) and I come in and peer over the edge of your crib and get a big smile from you every morning.

I have also started trying out napping in the crib again. You've never been a fan of the crib during the daytime and I've never pushed it because you sleep so well in there at night I see no reason to mess with a good thing. But just to try it out, I've been closing the blinds and laying you in there (when we are home and I remember) for an afternoon nap. It doesn't always work, but some days it does and I find that encouraging.

You have finally decided that tummy time is maybe not the worst thing in the world. Some days you're still not thrilled about it, but at least sometimes you are sort of okay. You can hold your head up all the way to 90 degrees now and some days you'll hang out there for several minutes with no complaints, which is a HUGE improvement from where we started. I usually put some toys around you on a blanket on the floor and a couple of times you have even acted like you want to scoot toward the toys.

You have turned into some sort of drool monster. Since you started liking to sit up more it has become more obvious because it allows for all the drool to pour out of your mouth and soak your shirt. But even a wet shirt doesn't seem to bother you so I don't worry about it too much.

You have started really playing with your soft toys now. You've figure out how to better grasp things and when you can get your hands on them just right you'll play with them and inspect them and, of course, try to put them in your mouth.

You have officially outgrown the sink and we have upgraded to baths in a plastic tub. I still refuse to buy a special baby tub, so we have improvised with a storage tub that we already owned, added a rolled up beach towel and your bath cushion and it's working just fine.

You now have smelly feet. No offense, so do I. I just think it's funny. Sometimes when I take your socks off your feet are a little sweaty and they smell like, well, feet. It's one of those things that reminds me that you're not just a baby but a little person.

You have become a total bottle snob. I don't know what happened. You've been taking bottles since you were 3 weeks old with no problem. Then suddenly last week you decided you were done with them. I think that it's partially a temperature thing. Lukewarm is no longer acceptable, it must be extra warm for you to even consider it. But even that isn't always good enough. Sometimes you just flat out refuse even when I know you are good and hungry. I'm trying not to worry too much and hope that it is just a phase that will pass quickly, but I'm also sort of panicking as we are now trying to get things sorted out for when I go back to work. In the meantime we continue to offer a bottle at the same times we normally would and if you refuse we don't make a big deal of it and just let you breastfeed instead. It's a good thing I am a milk factory and we have a freezer full of milk because there is a lot going down the drain these days. I have also had to suck it up and let you breastfeed in public a few times recently, which is perhaps one of the most uncomfortable things I can think of doing in public. But anything for you, Sweetheart. Anything for you.