raising a mommy: an update on the kiddos

Baby M hit the four month mark a earlier this month, so I guess it's time for an update!

Mastered Skills (most babies can do)
Holds head up steadily: Like a champ. Based on his size and head strength, people usually guess his age to be 6-7 months.
Can bear weight on legs: He certainly can! This is one strong kid.
Coos when you talk to him: More like yells. We could be in for a fun toddler-hood.
Does mini push-ups: He does. I know it'll be no time at all before he starts crawling. Yikes.

Emerging Skills (half of babies can do)
Can grasp a toy: He can. He has a bouncy chair thing that we put him in sometimes, and it has a bar that goes over him with a couple little dangling toys. He likes to grab onto the zebraffe (shape of a giraffe, stripes like a zebra) and just yell at the poor thing. I don't know what it did to make him mad.
Reaches out for objects: Like the zebraffe? And a few other toys.
Can roll over: Both ways! Watch out, world!

Advanced Skills (a few babies can do)
Imitates speech sounds (baba, dada): He doesn't quite have the consonants down, but he sure loves to make noise at you!
May cut first tooth: Not yet, thank goodness. He drools like crazy, though, so I kind of wonder if it's coming.

Our little chunker is now in nine month clothing, and the 12 month stuff that we have is not comically large on him. Mommy's not okay with this. I guess it makes sense, though, since he eats all the time!

The kids were so fortunate to get to celebrate two Christmases this year. We celebrated with Daddy's family the weekend before Christmas, and then we road tripped to see mine for Christmas Eve and Christmas day. Daddy had to go back home the day after Christmas, but I stayed with the kids for another week. All three of my brothers made it home, too, so it was nice to have the whole family together for the first time since I don't even remember when! I think Grandpa and Grandma enjoyed the extra time, too.

Big Sister P has officially hit the terrible twos, which I hear actually get worse at age three. (Which is next month. Yikes.) There's something to look forward to. I think one of her biggest issues is that she misses our big house on the prairie. We have become hesitant to go anywhere now because we don't want to deal with the inevitable freak out when we tell her that we have to go home. She asks about our old house and when we get to go to the old house and why our friend C is now living in our old house. Trust me, kid, there's a lot that I miss about it, too! I feel bad for our neighbors, though. That girl has lungs!

The tantrums, however, probably seem way more frequent than they actually are. Most of the time, she's a polite, intelligent, and caring kid. When Grammy explained what she was doing when she was shopping for her work's Adopt a Family, P got very concerned and asked if she could buy a toy for the kids who weren't getting any presents. How's that for heart-warming?

She's learned several new words recently, including consequences and generosity. "If I listen to mommy and daddy, there are no consequences!" She's not a fan of the time out.

When counting, she still usually skips over 14 and 15, but other than that, she can count to 20. Every now and then, she even gets those two numbers in there.

P's new favorite activity is washing dishes. I hope she continues to enjoy this, because I will pay her good money when she's old enough to actually get them clean. Dishes are, by far, my least favorite household chore.

Uncle A got her the movie "Frozen" for Christmas, so I am now experiencing what most parents went through exactly one year ago. I really don't mind it, though. It's a cute movie, and it's nice to rotate it with Tangled. Every single one of the songs gets stuck in your head, though. I think the phrase Husband used yesterday was "audio crack." That sounds about right. She loves wearing her hair in braids like Anna, and she switches back and forth between which sister she is, so I don't have to be Elsa every time.