Sweet Sam--
I’m a little late here on your 4-month newsletter. On your 4-month birthday, we went up to Pennsylvania to celebrate your great-grandfather’s 88th birthday. You met almost the whole Schonfeld-Sonnenblum family. Your grandfather’s cousin David played the piano and sang to you, and it brought back special memories for me of him doing the same thing for me when I was a little squirt.
Speaking of that, you LOVE music. I’m convinced you’re going to be a musician, whether professional or amateur. I can always calm you down and get you to smile by singing to you. Your dad prefers to let you listen to classic rock, but I noticed when your grandfather was here he had you listening to some Mozart quintets and you really loved them. I might have to get a copy of that recording for you--most of my Mozart is choral and opera, which is a little intense for you right now.
We transitioned you from the carseat to the cradle about a week ago, and you’re back to sleeping 7 or 8 hours a night. In fact, last night I came in from choir, and you and your dad were both in bed. It was a nice surprise, although I did miss our nightly ritual of nursing in the bed. In other sleep news, we’re working on getting you down for a daily nap. You don’t want to sleep in the crib for more than an hour, but (even though it’s nice) you can’t continue taking your long naps on mom. That’s not going to be practical as you get bigger, and I need to be able to get some stuff done around the house. So we’re weaning you away from that.
You’re now eating solid foods! Or perhaps that should read you’re now “eating” “solid” foods. You seem to like the oatmeal better than the rice cereal, and I can’t say I blame you. We’ll experiment with sweet potatoes later on in the week. I’m not sure how much nutrition you’re really getting at this point in the game, but your dad and I wanted to introduce you to eating with a spoon and eating food that doesn’t come from mom sooner rather than later. We had such an awful fight with the bottle--I really didn’t want to repeat that again. So you and I are just playing around now. When you’re in the mood you eat some, and as soon as you seem tired or bored we stop. You’re still getting as much milk as ever from me, but I’m enjoying seeing you learn how to handle new things. I’m not looking forward to the end of the breastfed diapers--these days they may be gross but at least they don’t smell bad.
You rolled over a couple weeks ago, but it was just in the last 4 or 5 days that you really got the hang of it. Now you roll whenever we put you on your tummy, and one of our big games now is rolling you onto your tummy after you roll onto your back. I have a feeling that in no time at all you’re going to be rolling over and over like a dog.
Another one of your favorite things is the cat. We let you pet Thistle with one of us helping, making sure you stay away from her face and paws and that you don’t grab and pull her fur. You have this huge amazing smile on your face when you touch her. Thistle is so good and sweet--she lets you play with her and doesn’t protest at all. Sometimes when you’re sleeping on my lap she comes over and rubs against your head and your hands. One of our biggest worries was how our furry baby would react to our non-furry baby--I was scared Thistle was going to hide under the bed and never come out again. But you two really seem to love each other, which makes your father and I happier than you can imagine.
It’s been a fabulous month, Sam. Things just seem to get better and better. I can’t wait to see what next month holds in store.
Love,
Mummy