On Thursday, Molly turned four months old. We have entered the time of counting her age in months rather than weeks. Tell someone that she is 17 weeks and there is a little pause as they are calculating in their heads: "Hmmm, 17 divided by 4 weeks is about 4 months." Much easier to do months.
She is starting to act and feel more like a person or a baby than an infant. Infants have no body control or strength, their heads flop around, and interactions occur sparingly (if you don't count feeding, soothing crying, and diaper changes).
She is ever more aware of her surroundings and it is apparent that every day is a whole new world to her. When we take her for a walk, she is watching everything go by. The television is ever captivating and is now a tool for us to free all four adult hands for a few minutes around the house. Music and sounds are great positive stimuli for her and she loves it when we talk to her and make funny sounds. We can call to her from across the room and she will turn to look at us.
And furthermore, the mobility has begun. This week she rolled over in both directions (back-to-belly and belly-to-back). This was an entertaining event for all three of us. I was in the kitchen grilling up some dinner and I could hear Trina encouraging Molly to roll towards her, as well as Trina requesting me to 'come look' every couple of minutes. Then all the sudden there was great celebration when she did it. I drank another beer to celebrate.
In addition to all this she is gaining much strength. We still swaddle her to put her to sleep, but she busts out of that if she wants. Last night I had swaddled and bounced her on the balance ball until she fell asleep, then laid her in her crib 'for the night'. A half an hour later she was awake and crying. There she was, completely unwrapped and uncovered and turned 90 degrees in her crib. That was a first. Perhaps I'll try the sleeping sack tonight.
