Month 4

Dear Lia,

It's hard to believe four months have passed since you've been born. It feels like I've been taking care of you forever! A very blissful and contented forever of course, exciting and eventful, occasionally hilarious, sometimes tiring, but all together fantastic. You're a wonderful baby and I can't ask for a better one.



In the past month, you've learned to grab things and put them in your mouth. You favorite is cloth diapers which you use to wipe your own drool. And what a lot of drool you have. You also learned to chatter. Chatter chatter chatter chatter. You talk back when people talk to you, you talk to your toys, you even talk to nothing at all. It's fun to listen to you though. Sometimes, when I try to sing you to sleep, you sing along. That of course means you are not yet sleepy. So we play instead. And when you tire yourself out, sleep is not far away.

Another thing you've been working on really hard is the worm crawl. You can't quite support yourself on your hands and knees yet. It's only either or. When we put you on your tummy, either you push your head up on your hands, or you push your butt up with your feet. Sometimes you raise your head and kick with your feet and that frustrates you because you're not going forward. You complain loudly "why am I not movinggg???" and then you figure out you have to put your head down and push it across the bed with your feet in order to move forward. That doesn't stop you from complaining though. Sometimes you go all the way across the bed "talking" while "crawling". Oh baby you are going to go very far. I found a birthmark on your foot. Looks like there will be much travel in your future.


Speaking of travel, last friday, when you turned four months, you went on your very first out of town trip! Over land and over sea, we drove to Batangas pier in the big blue truck and rode the Roro to Puerto Galera. And you travelled far better than I expected you would. You slept on the road. When you got fussy, you allowed yourself to get distracted until we reached the pier and I could nurse you in the parking lot. You totally enjoyed your boat ride and slept again on the short drive from the pier to the house of Tita Malou where we stayed. And once on the beach, you had the time of your life. I could tell you enjoyed yourself, looking at the trees and the sea, having so many people take turns paying attention to you all the time, and even though you can't swim in the beach yet, you absolutely enjoyed splashing in your inflatable tub. You had so much fun during the day that you slept so soundly at night. We already know you're going to love going back there every year.

Early this month, I bought you a Gymini. It's a play mat with toys hanging above you. When I first saw one, I hesitated buying because they were expensive but later got it anyway because you dad encouraged me to do so. And when I first opened it you didn't like it much, as if you were overwhelmed by the colors and moving parts. But after a few days, you learned to ring the bell and play with the animals and you started enjoying the toy that it made me feel so happy to have given you something you like.



And yet, even if you like playing with toys, you like playing with people better. No matter how engrossed you are with your toy, you always check to see if someone is watching, and if you don't see anyone around, you yell until someone comes. And then you smile. And then you go back to playing. Or demand to be picked up. And more often than not, we're more than willing to oblige.



Soon you'll be rolling over, and crawling in earnest, and then walking and running and everyone is saying that's when the hard part begins. Part of me is excited (baby shoes!) and part of me is getting tired just thinking about it. But I know you're pacing yourself well and you will learn to do these things when it is time. But while you're not there yet, I will enjoy every second of your dependence on me completely.

I love you Lia! I enjoy watching you grow. But please don't grow up too fast.

Love, Mommy