Dear Siena – 4 Months

Dear Siena,

You’ve always been an engaged, active baby but this month you’ve been more squirmy, awake and alive than ever. You’re constantly wanting to be moving and grooving and don’t like being left out of anything which warranted your latest nick name, “Squirmy Worm.” You want to pick up everything you can and put everything in your mouth. You found new levels in your voice and now have a range of sounds that you use to communicate with us, including a high pitched scream that you use when you really want something or are very excited. You’re an incredibly friendly baby – usually even the scariest strangers can get a smile out of you, typically after you give them a quizzical look and check them out first.

You love music. Every time I want to make you smile, all I have to do is start singing a song (I’ve learned several variations of Wheels on the Bus and there are now so many animals living on Old McDonald’s farm). We’ve started two new sleep time routines and both involve music. The routine that I use when putting you down is that I first read you a book and then I put you in your crib (with white noise) and sing you “Twinkle Twinkle Little Star” a few times. Your dad has his own routine, which always includes playing either the guitar or ukulele and singing to you. I’m pretty sure you prefer that over my singing, but either way, you’re mesmerized by music.

You hit some big milestones this month, including rolling from your back to tummy! It’s pretty funny because sometimes you do it and then get mad that you’re now on your belly. You know how to roll from belly to back but for some reason you don’t do the two together. Despite that, tummy time has become MUCH more pleasant. You now are able to get your head way up during tummy time and you play with your toys and or suck on your hand and will happily hang out for several minutes.

You absolutely love to stand up. Every time we have you on our laps, you push off into a standing position. You like to stand on anything and everything and even if we tried, we couldn’t prevent you from trying to stand. And you stand tall too – you’re now 26 inches long and in the 97 percentile for height! You wear size 2 diapers and are mostly in your 3-6 months clothes.

You let out your first giggles this month. I still wouldn’t say you’re full on laughing, but there are definitely giggles. Your range of sounds has increased dramatically and you use your coos and shrieks to communicate with us more and more, which means less crying to tell us your needs. You love to chew on everything you can get your hands on and you’re starting to drool like crazy. You grab my hands and any toy (or blanket) you can get your hands on and put them in your mouth, but your favorite thing to chew on is your own hands.

I’ve noticed a big difference in the amount of stimulation, awake time and interaction you need now. You really don’t like to be left alone for long, but will play on your own as long as you can see someone in your line of vision or are intently playing with a toy. You also are becoming less content sitting in your Rock n’ Play (which is usually where I put you while I’m pumping or when we’re eating a meal). You arch your back and try to jump out of it. I ended up buying you a “Sit Me Up” chair and you seem to like it more since you are upright and can turn your head and see us even if we’re behind you.  You are happiest being held and walked around so that you can see what’s going on or lying on the ground on a blanket with a person and toys to interact with.

We still go to the lactation support group every week to chat with the other moms and get your weekly weigh in. Now, however, you get easily distracted while eating and it’s harder for you to focus while at the group. At home, you also tend to get distracted and will bounce off and smile at me or look at me. Now you also fuss a bit when you’ve had enough, pushing away and shrieking a little as to say “I’m DONE now Mom!” I’ve become good at nursing you in public (with a cover) and you take less time to eat than you did before, which makes extended outings much easier now.

You slept so well this month! At three months, you were going through some sort of sleep regression and we couldn’t get past 2 a.m. wake ups. But then you rolled over in your swaddle so we switched to the Magic Merlin Suit. It made a HUGE difference in the amount of time you sleep at night and during naps. You now sleep 7-10 hours straight every single night (and lately more often on the longer side of that range) and then go right back to sleep for a couple more hours afterward. We recently moved your bedtime up to 8 p.m. and you generally sleep until 7 a.m. with one feeding between 4-6 a.m. Your napping has become much better and you now take three naps, one of which is usually anywhere from 2-3 hours long and the other two are usually roughly 1 hour. I try to have you sleep in the crib at least twice a day with one nap in the car seat while we’re on the go but it varies day to day.

This month we had a lot of fun and went to four birthday parties and several dinner parties. We’ve been going on walks with our next door neighbors Amanda and Ellie (who is exactly 2 months younger than you), meeting up with Vicky, Cam and Emi (who is 2 1/2 months younger than you), and we have our weekly run with Allison and Beau (who is 1 year old). We go to our Dailey Baby workout every Wednesday and started going to an Infant Development Class put on by First Five San Diego at the Encinitas Library every Friday morning.

We also went to a dinner party with the three other families (including Amber and Kairi) with young babies who are going to be heading up to Big Bear with us next month for the weekend. Last week we drove to Orange County to see my two high school friends Jill and Jenny and their sons Nolan and Jameson. We had a reunion with all the families from our Bradley Method birthing class (and got to hear all the birth stories!) and after that, many of the moms and babies from the group get together about once a week to hang out. You already have so many friends!

You also got to see almost all your grandparents this month. Your Grandpa Woyski came to visit while your dad was in Dallas (he went three times this month for work and it was hard being home without him) and stayed for three days. Your Nana and Boo babysat you twice so your Dad and I could go on a date night and your Grandma Christy, Great Grandma Ewing and Great Aunt Kerry visited for a day as well.

It would be an understatement to say that I love being your mom. You fill me with so my joy and every smile melts my heart. It makes me so happy to see how happy you make your dad as well. It’s impossible to imagine our little family without you now. We love you!

Love,
Mom