4 Months Old!

My wonderful Logan is now 4 months old! It doesn’t seem like that long, and yet it also feels like it has been longer.

I know that doesn’t make since so let me try to explain:
It seems like it was just yesterday that I was being told to make soothing, low sounds. It seems like just yesterday that he was being put on to my bare tummy. It seems like just yesterday that I held him for the first time, exhausted, but not wanting to close my eyes for fear of missing something amazing…Logan.

It’s also hard to remember what it was like not caring for, thinking of, and loving my little boy. Sure he was only born 4 months ago, but I’ve known him for so much longer then that. I knew that I was pregnant before anyone else did, even the pregnancy test. I could feel him move inside of me everyday since August. I thought of him before thinking of me since before he was conceived trying to make my body the right and safe place for him. It seems like I’ve been changing diapers for years and giving kisses and hugs and love for decades.

Would I change any of it? Never. He is my boy and will always be my little baby. Even when he sky rockets above me in height and is having a baby of his own, he will always be my baby boy.

At Logan’s 4 month appointment yesterday he had his next two immunizations. He took to them pretty well. He cried for a limited amount of time, though I’m sure it would have gone on much longer if I didn’t have my tricks. What are these tricks? Well it’s called a mirror and running water. No, not a magic mirror; just a plain old everyday mirror. I just tell Logan not to make the baby in the mirror sad. If that doesn’t work then it’s on with the water and Logan just perks right up. (That’s my boy! He LOVES the water, just like me)

Here are two prime examples of Mommy knows all:
Everyone keeps trying to tell me that Logan is teething. This is based on the fact that he drools so much that someone will think he is trying to rival Niagara Falls! He also loves to bite and chew on things, including our fingers. I tell everyone that I check his gums for teeth and buds and bumps and any sing that he is teething nearly everyday. And I continually tell them the same thing, “Nothing is there. Logan is not teething.” Without me even asking his pediatrician she said to me, “Doesn’t seem like he’s teething at all yet. The drool is normal, it’s just because babies make more saliva then they can swallow.”

I must say two things here. 1. THANK YOU Doctor R.D., Thank you SO much. 2. I TOLD YOU SO!!!!

The other? Everyone keeps trying to make my little boy grow up faster then he needs to. Everyone wants to start seeing him eating food, either by their own finger or on an actual spoon. So everyone keeps telling me that I should be feeding him solid food now.

My response? Umm, NO! He’s only 4 months old. This is the start of when he’s able to start solid food and only rice or oatmeal cereal at that. A babies stomach isn’t closed when they are born it’s around 4-6 months that their stomach will finally close. This is the time that you are able to start solid foods, and the later you start them, the better. Children that start solid foods later are less likely to have allergies later in life. If you start them too early then the food will get into their blood and the white blood cells will attack it. The blood will then remember this and will continue to attack this food whenever eaten later in life. So starting food later, closer to 6 months, is best. I didn’t even voice my concerns to Dr. R.D., she just automatically told me to not start him on solids until between the 5th and 6th month.

So again I say to everyone: “I TOLD YOU SO!”

I will evaluate where and how he is doing around 5 months old and then at about 5 ½ months, and again at 6 months, if he hasn’t started foods by these times.

How do you tell if he’s ready? Well that’s simple. It’s when Logan shows an interest in eating. It’s when he starts to constantly reach for mommy and daddy’s food, when he watches our hand go to our mouth from our plate, and when he opens his mouth when we start to put food into ours. I’m constantly watching and waiting to see if and when Logan does this stuff and with consistency. I want it to be that he’s doing it because he’s truly interested in the food and not just because he takes after Mommy and likes colorful and shiny objects and is just getting distracted by these things. (Yes, I did just make fun of myself!)

The good news about this? It means that Mommy and Daddy still have more time to pick out and save up for a high chair. We like versatile things. Things that can be used in multiple places and hopefully have multi-functions as well. But I also want my little guy to be safe, so I research everything as much as I possibly can. We also have a budget to stay within as well, so saving is necessary.

Logan’s Stats:
Height – 26inches long (just below the 90th percentile) 2 inch growth since 2 months
Weight – 16lbs 5.5oz (80th percentile) 4lbs 5oz gain since 2 months
Head – 50th percentile (sorry don’t have the measurements right now) 25th percentile jump