DASH AT FOUR MONTHS OLD

Read Dash’s:

Growth:

Height: 0.641 m (2′ 1.25″) (56th percentile)
Weight: 7.158 kg (15 lb 12.5 oz) (51th percentile)
Head circumference: 41.3 cm (16.26″) (34th percentile)

Started wearing Pampers Swaddlers size 3 diapers (16-28 lbs) shortly after the three month mark, even though he is in the very low range for that diaper size. I think he has a booty, like both his mom and dad.

*Wearing size 12 months at 3.5 months old… Baby clothes sizes are a lie.*

Started wearing 12 months clothes from Carter’s baby clothe brand, even though Dash is an average-sized baby (around 50th percentile). He still wears some 3-6 months clothes, depending on the brand.

*Still sleeping with his hands up by his head.*

Sleeps: Consistently sleeps 10-12 hours at night, without waking up.

Exception: For one week after our one-week trip to Italy, which is eight hours ahead, Dash had a difficult time adjusting. He woke up once or twice every night that week and demanded to be fed. That was tiring for both Care Bear and I. It was as if Dash had reverted back to his two-week old days. Thankfully, on his seventh day back home, he slept 7-8 hours without waking up, and on his eighth day, he slept 12 hours (-0-) without waking up.

After Italy, Dash started going down for the night around 8-9 pm (sometimes 7 pm) and waking up around 7-8 am. He “sleep trained” himself and found his sleep schedule on his own. : )

Feeding: Still exclusively breastfed. To my relief, he started eating much faster, finally. For about the first three months, he used to eat for 40 minutes at a time, sometimes even an hour. Now, all he needs is 15-30 minutes. So I’m relieved from the sometimes awkward, sometimes uncomfortable, still-as-stone nursing position earlier. Sometimes, he only eats for like 10 minutes and he is done. Win.

*Breastfeeding while in line at St. Mark’s Tower in Venice, Italy*

*Breastfeeding in front of St. Peter’s Basilica in Vatican City*

I think breastfeeding became close to pain free and much more effortless after the three month mark. Now, my breast is sore only about once every other week. I feed him in any position convenient or required at the time: standing up (like waiting in line in Italy at tourist spots), walking, lying down on my bed, floor, or couch, in a reclined position, squatting over a rock or a low step, etc.

New developments:

He smiles at himself in the mirror. It is so cute.

*Happy in the safe and comfortable arms of auntie Stacey*

He sticks his tongue out for extended periods of time, and smiles while doing so. He does that to strangers sometimes and people love it.

Started using his hands . . . . Starting to become an intelligent being.

He can pick up his toy ball by himself. The first time it happened, I was so surprised.

*Right after my hair cut. Didn’t have the heart to do a major “mom chop”. Still kept some length, but is short enough to be out of reach when he nurses.*

He can grab and pull on my hair. So I got a hair cut.
He sticks his whole hand in his mouth and enjoys doing so.
He started drooling, so we started using bibs on him. Sometimes, his bib gets soaked within an hour of putting it on him.

Still smiles a lot, and sometimes has laughing fits, which are very cute to hear. Still pouts.
The top of his head, which had close to no hair his first month, grew lots of hair.
We cut his toenails for the first time since his birth! Just once. His finger nails still need to be cut every 5-6 days.

Travels: Lake Tahoe and Italy for one week with the grandparents.

Elimination: Dash poops or pees in the toilet at least once a day, and up to three or four times a day on a good “EC” (elimination communication) day. Dash has been EC’ed, or infant potty trained, since he was 2.5 months old. Read how I EC’ed him here.

His first poop of the day is usually after 2-3 breasts (so, after 1-3 feeding sessions), anywhere from 10 am to 2 pm, depending on how busy we were that morning. His last poop of the day is usually in the early evening.

Visiting mommy’s work: I’m on a 4.5 month maternity leave, but I stopped by the office four or five times to get a few things done, like dropping off a doctor’s note for the leave, doing fingerprinting for the California bar, attending women’s forum events, and attending an intellectual property practice group breakfast meeting. I took Dash with me, and several colleagues rushed over to see him and gushed over him, while I was humorously relegated to the sideline.

For the practice group meeting, I was intending to stop by and say hi to people who flew in from out of state and leave the office, but Dash was being so good and quiet that I ended up attending the whole 45-minute meeting. Dash slept through most of the meeting and made very little noise.

Fancy, customized reservation sign, courtesy of Care Bear’s employer

Visiting daddy’s work: Went to daddy’s work to have lunch with his colleagues and their babies who were born within two months of each other. They called it Baby-pocalypse. LOL It was funny and endearing to see four strollers with tiny babies in them lined up in the cafeteria!