This Little Piggy...

...cried weeeee-weeee-weee all the way home! Michael has discovered that squealing is hilarious fun. He does it in his play center. He does it in the highchair. And yes, he does it in the car on the way home from doing it at the restaurant we ate lunch at. Here he is having a grand ole time in his new exersaucer.

And he is most definitely a little piggy! He's a fan of food in general now, but pears and bananas don't last long in our house. Yesterday he grabbed the spoon away from me and tried to feed himself. So I ended up getting a second spoon to scoop food onto the one already in his mouth. He eventually grabbed that spoon too and had one for each hand.

New Tricks, New Foods, Same Laughs

So much growing up has happened just in the past week or so! We had our 4 month check up on Monday. Michael now weighs 16.14 lbs and measures 26.5 inches. That puts him in the 90th percentile for his height and in the 75th for his weight! The doctor says he's doing great and we are now ready to try some different foods. We've been eating a little rice cereal with formula the past two days now and later this week we'll try some fruit or veggie baby food. He liked the cereal so much, he decided to eat the bowl!

Hopefully he will continue to remain an adventurous eater (like his Mommy) and not be as picky as his Daddy is! I'll let you all know how our little foodie likes pears later on this week.

Also, Mikey rolled over for the first time last week. Pretty impressive! Our dogs don't even know that one. This is an important milestone and we're very excited about it. Soon, he'll be on the move. He already likes to stand up while holding onto our fingers, so I predict he'll be more interested in walking than crawling when the time comes.

Today we also took a bath, so I shot a couple of quick videos of him playing with the rubber ducky. Enjoy a few more giggles!

Hilarity Ensues

Cat's groom their own young to keep their coats clean, much like mothers like to apply the licked thumb to a dirty toddler face. So, does this mean that Opie thinks Michael is part of his litter? Though my little kitten didn't seem to care either way about his cat bath, I thought it was hilarious.

What Michael does find quite funny, is a good diaper change! He get's really giggly when we set him up on the changing table. I'm sure he likes the direct attention, but me tickling him probably helps too.

Southpaws

Michael loves his puppy dog, Vega. And she enjoys a good scratch behind the ears too, so they make an excellent pair!

It seems that his left hand is the favorable one when it comes to actions like this and grabbing items. And it also makes for a tasty treat; when he decides he wants to chew on something he almost always goes for it. Perhaps we'll have an artist?

Talk, talk, talk...

Michael has making more Ooohs and Ahhs of late. He's even throwing in a few different pitches in the last couple of days. I finall got a video of him recently rediscovered his bouncy seat. He enjoyed it and would like to tell you all about it.

Also, he had his two month checkup on January 3rd--complete with shots! He handled it like a champ. Didn't even notice the needle stick. The vaccine must have stung a bit though, because he started crying after they started injecting the solution. But by the time we got to the lobby to get our prescription for Baby Tylenol he was laughing and playing with his Daddy.

He is now 12 lbs 13 oz and in the 90th percentile in size for his age group. He's right on track in terms of developing. He's grabbing things and so incredibly interactive. He doesn't just follow people in a room. He talks to them. One of his favorite things to do now is laugh when other people laugh. He's kinda like the guy at the party that doesn't get the joke but laughs anyway to try and fit in.

Thanksgiving

This year we obviously had plenty to be thankful for with having a new member of the family to celebrate the holidays with. Dominic and I enjoyed Thanksgiving here in South Carolina with our friends and neighbors, the Steadmans. But this year, we were all especially thankful because Meredith just gave birth to her son, Thian, a week after Michael was born. She went into labor prematurely due to a pregnancy related medical condition affecting her liver. Luckily, both Mom and Baby were perfectly healthy despite the circumstances; and we had a lovely holiday with Eddie, Meredith, their daughter Rienna, Eddie's mom, and two baby boys.

I know a baby's first Thanksgiving is more special for the parents than the child, but I'm pretty sure we all had fun anyway. Michael has been smiling more when we play with him. I even snapped a few pictures after he woke up that morning of him playing with his Daddy.

I've also determined that my son is much like a turtle in the fact that when he is on his back, he kicks his hands and legs back and forth like he's crawling. I keep expecting him to roll over and take off any day now. In fact, he's really close to rolling over on his own. When he's on his playmat, I often look over to see him mostly on his side. If he can just get that little push, he'd be on his stomach. I can't believe how fast he's growing! I have no idea how much he weighs, but we're into the 3-6 month pants because he's such a big eater. I don't think I'm ready for him to be going at this fast of a pace.

The First Two Weeks

So, the first two weeks have gone by quicker than I thought they would and I figured it's time to share some of those funny little "growing up" stories with the family before they get lost in my head. I gotta warn you though, there will be plenty of icky poop tales and accounts of "where'd that pee come from?" I promise to make it tasteful, but let's be honest...it's poop. It's gross and it's EVERYWHERE when you're raising an infant. And I do mean everywhere...

A couple of days ago Dom went into the nursery to change Michael's diaper and all of a sudden I hear a barrage of "Oh my God"'s, "How did you DO that?!"'s, and "You've got to see this!" For as much as I wasn't sure I wanted to see this...I wasn't sure that I wanted to miss it either. Funny how you don't want to miss anything your baby does, even when it's a fecal explosion. And it was! It was everywhere and we had to take him into the bathtub to wash him off because there weren't enough wipies in the state of South Carolina for that mess. How could someone so little create such a mess?

But it's not all about the ever dwindling pile of diapers. There have been cuter moments too. We're getting to know our son as a person, figuring out his behaviors. I now know that when he's hungry he'll chew on his hand for a few seconds, and if you put in a pacifier it'll only last a second or two before he spits it out. The only thing that will satisfy him long enough to get a bottle ready a good ole finger....or Dom's nose. It's true. I even have it on video. Dom was holding Michael up to his face giving him kisses to calm him down and the nose went straight into the boy's mouth and he began nursing.

I just didn't realize that such silly things would become so important and entertaining. Now we're getting ready for a first Thanksgiving! Elizabeth is coming and we're having the Steadman family over again like every year. Except this year Meredith just delivered her son, Thian, so Eddie's mom will be here along with her 17 month old, Rienna. So babies, babies, galore! Happy Turkey Day to you all and check in next week for the holiday update!