4 Months

**UPDATE** The kitty litter is no longer in my keyboard. It migrated underneath the spacebar yesterday, and then I turned the whole computer upside down and it fell out. Thank you, Colleen, for your advice that I didn't need to use. And thank you, Bookman, for keeping me honest.

Now, on to business.

Elsie is 4 months old today. I can't believe how quickly time has flown by. Let's see, this month Elsie has mastered rolling over. She found her bottom lip. She can grasp objects and can almost put the pacifier back in her mouth (she's an expert on taking it out). She's drooling a lot more, smiling a lot more. In the last week she started giggling, and if I had a camera that captured sound, I would get a video for you. She has graduated (as of today) from slow flow nipples to medium flow nipples on her bottles, and she is now officially in size 2 diapers. She's wearing size 6-9 months clothing because her torso has become so long.

She lost a lot of hair and has become mostly blond on top with a dark mullet leftover in the back. Let's consult some comparison photos. First, a photo taken by my friend Jill when Elsie was 1 day old. Notice the head full of dark hair.


I saw this picture today and almost didn't recognize her. Next, a picture I took of Elsie in her bouncy seat just a few minutes ago.

It looks like it is thinning out, and it is, sort of. There are lots of short, short blonde hairs growing in. Look where the camera flashed off her temple. Blonde. And where her hairline is in the front, blonde. The dark hairs are the long ones that haven't fallen out yet. She still has plenty of hair, it's just not dark anymore. And her ears are quite prominent, Greenawalt-style.

Now, at 4 months, Elsie can sit against the couch, supported, but is obviously anxious to do it herself. Here are some couch-sitting pictures taken earlier today.





We went to Chik-Fil-A today to get free sandwiches for wearing college gear. Elsie wore her Auburn hat (see hat above). People kept stopping to comment--on her eyes, her blue, blue eyes; on her sweet lips; on her alertness. Too cute.

Elsie is also more mobile. She's not crawling, but she's scooting around, sometimes on her face, but mostly on her back. Here's a picture of her on the floor with the Baby Einstein gym earlier.


Did you notice that the gym is facing the camera? That's right, Elsie turned 180-degrees. Did you notice that the gym is off the blanket? That's right, Elsie, after turning, kicked it off in increments. Did you notice that Elsie is hanging out between the legs?


Yes, that's right. She scooted herself between the legs and was working the green circular lever (that plays/changes music) first with her hand, and then with her foot. And she was playing with the orange ball with her hand, knee, foot. Content, for about 30 minutes. No kidding.

She's going to be moving more soon, so keeping my floors clean is becoming more and more pressing. I'm so not looking forward to it.

I know people normally get their children's portraits taken at 3, 6, 9, and 12 months. Stacey took pictures at 2 months, and then I didn't get any at 3 months, as that was around the start of school. And I would like to get her 4-month portrait taken, but don't have the time.

Also, Elsie is being baptized next Sunday. Some of my family is coming in from Texas, and some of Eli's family will be here, too.

Last thing, in the middle of writing this, Elsie was sitting with her daddy on the couch. I had just changed a full pee diaper and we discussed the baby's bowel movements (none in the last 24 hours). Anyway, Eli hopped up from the couch and raced to the changing table. Yep. Poo everywhere. Every. Where. Elsie was mostly perplexed, but she got her hand and knee in it while squirming to get away from her frantic daddy. And then, of course, on the one diaper change job that required 5+ wipes, he ran out after two, and I had to make a mad dash into the other room for more. And then we ended up just bathing the baby because she smelled bad. Really bad. But now she smells good. Time to put her to bed.

Cheers.