Evan celebrated the New Year with some new developmental milestones; a big one being rolling over from his tummy to his back for the first time on New Years Eve day. He was laying on the floor naked (we've had him do this a lot lately to help alleviate some heat rash he's getting in his diaper area), and this particular day we decided to try some tummy time since he was on the floor. Almost immediately he started pushing himself to one side and he was precariously teetering on the brink of rolling over so I called John and everyone in to watch. Sure enough, with a full audience he rolled over from tummy to back! We placed him on his tummy several more times only for him to perform his new rollover maneuver again and again for us. We got some video and photos, and of course he's naked in them all! Since this incident, he's rolled over a few more times, but not during every tummy time session. Thus, he's still probably doing it by chance more than on purpose, but he possesses the skills to do so and thus soon he'll be rolling all over the place!
Evan showing off his New Year's Eve outfit...looking so grown up!
As a result of his first rollover, it became even more urgent for us to start putting him to sleep without the swaddle. If he were to roll himself over at night, I want to make sure he has his arms free to hold himself up and/or roll back around. I've heard a lot of stories about how hard it is to get a baby who's been swaddled since birth to sleep through the night without it, but our Evan is a little angel! His first night without the swaddle was New Year's Eve, and he did wake up a few extra times than normal, but went back to sleep easily after being given his pacifier. Since then, he's been sleeping with a non-swaddle sleepsack (we're using a Halo sleepsack) and following his normal routine of bedtime around 8pm and waking for a feed around 4am, and then back to sleep again til 7-8am. We couldn't be luckier!
Besides rolling over, during tummy time he sometimes brings himself up onto his knees. He does this mostly when he buries his face into the blanket, so it's not like a crawl yet, but I can't help but think it's the first signs of him using his legs for movement (maybe the beginnings of what people refer to as the army crawl?). He also started mock-walking this week. What I mean by this is that when you hold him upright, such that he's standing with his weight on his legs on a hard surface he now picks up one leg, then the other, and so forth. It looks like he's marching, and he really bears all of his weight on the one standing leg when he does it. He's definitely got strong legs, as he's been putting weight and "standing" on his legs since he was about two months old!
Weighing in at 14.5 lbs at his 4-month doctor's check up made me realize that he may outgrow his size 1 (up to 15 lbs) cloth pre-fold diapers while we were in Australia. Thus, I ordered some new Thirsties size 2 wraps (snap closure style only) and some larger sized cloth pre-folds to bring with us. I also brought a few of the regular Bum Genius inserts, in case he outgrew the newborn sized ones (which are shorter in length and not as thick for absorbency). Sure enough, it was also on New Year's weekend that we started using the larger pre-fold diapers and also adjusted his Bum Genius diapers to the intermediate setting, thus needing to use the regular inserts (or two overlapped newborn inserts). The last few times he wore his size 1 Thirsties wraps and cloth pre-folds he had plumber's crack showing because they just weren't big enough to give him full coverage. The problem is that he's kind of in between sizes right now, as the new size 2 diapers are huge on him, but with some extra folding we make it work. It's hard to remember the first days we used the size 1 diapers on him, but I recall having to make some extra folds to get them to fit initially too. Over time the size of the extra fold shrunk and then this past weekend it just wasn't enough diaper for him anymore.
In the last couple days Evan's also learned a new goofy grin. He smiles really wide, but keeps his lips together and almost tucks his bottom lip in (like he's sucking on it or biting on it). He still doesn't have any teeth, but he may very well have some soon as he still drools a lot and loves to chew on his teething beads.
One last milestone to mention are his improved skills at grabbing objects. He definitely grabs hold of anything his hands touch, including my hair, my shirt, his blanket, the nursing cover (this makes nursing in public much more challenging now!), and he is also getting even better at grasping his toys. Last month he started grabbing and pulling his bird (that vibrates back up its cord after being pulled) on our drive to the Denver airport. He kept pulling it over and over again, so we decided we had to bring that toy along on our trip too and he still loves to pull on it to feel the vibration. With most toys, when I hold it above him he usually brings his hands together in front of him and then brings his clasped hands in to his mouth. If the toy is not directly in that path, he ends up empty-handed. Initially this made him look sad that he didn't get what he wanted, but now he just tries again and widens his reach to try to get the toy I'm dangling. Thus, I think I can see the cogs turning in his mind and he's realizing more and more each day that he has control over his hands and can guide them to make contact with what he sees before him.
Three generations of Hingst men. :)
This photo also documents one other thing that Evan likes to grab onto these days...fingers! He just loves holding your hand!
These moments of watching him grow and develop are priceless and indescribable experiences. I feel a great sense of pride and happiness for him as he grasps his toy or rolls over (such that I clap and say "yay", which he seems to like), but I also feel a sense of wonder at how amazing life is and how the world works. There is something magical and amazing about life that you don't realize until you watch a baby learn and grow. Motherhood is truly a blessing! The first five months have been pure joy and I can't wait for what lays ahead.
Starting our New Year off right...snuggling with my baby boy! I couldn't be more in love!
1 comment:
I had no idea you have a blog! yay! Evan is such a cutie.
Post a Comment