4 Months, Cereal, and First Game

This past week Taylor had her 4 month appointment.  She took her vaccinations like a champ but did have a bit of a reaction later that night.  It was nothing too serious.  Taylor has grown a good amount in the past 2 months: she's gone from 20 1/2 inches to over 23 inches long.  Her weight gain has not been as substantial- only 2 pounds in the past 2 months.  However, the doctor was not concerned.
We started giving her rice cereal this past week.  Like most babies, she wasn't really sure what to do with the cereal but she's slowly getting the hang of it.  She really enjoys grabbing the spoon out of our hands but we don't think she's ready to feed herself yet.  =)

And another important first for our baby girl was her first Illini basketball game!  Unfortunately, she and I had to leave at halftime because Assembly Hall was just a little too loud. 

Every day Walker and I are amazed at how much Taylor is changing.  We love just seeing what new things she will discover each day.  And some times she's even smarter than us- Taylor has a pink elephant that plays music that hangs from her jungle gym.  So after work, Walker asked me how to make the elephant play the music and I told him you just have to pull on the ring that's attached to the elephant's trunk.  Apparently, Taylor had been making it play music all day and Walker couldn't figure out how she was doing it!  Yes, babies truly are amazing.   I'm looking forward to all the new things she will learn in the next few months.

Almost 4 months already!

Our little girl will be 4 months on Monday.  And she is now double her birth weight!  I guess it doesn't take too long to double your birth weight when you didn't weigh that much in the first place!
While Taylor hasn't learned anything new as of late, she continues to expand on what she already can do.  She now consistently reaches for things (mostly toys that hang) and her small giggles have turned into full out laughs.  What kind of parents would we be if we didn't capture at least one video of her laughing?  You can see it here.
The next thing we're working on?  Sitting up unassisted.  We have a looooong way to go.

ETA: The video is being crummy and getting stuck but if you move the counter a bit you can get it to play again.  Or you can go to my facebook page- it's there too. =)

Practice makes perfect!

Since Taylor will be starting solid foods soon (hopefully!) I decided to let her play with a spoon and bowl to help her get used to them.  Also I figured she could use practice using her hands.  The end result is this:

Don't worry- she could still breathe.  The bowl wasn't right against her face.  But isn't it funny how the bowl is the same size as her entire head?  I'm just glad there was no cereal in it!

Look Ma! I have hands!!

Yes, today Taylor has finally discovered that her hands are for more than just chewing on.  We had noticed the past few weeks that every once in a while she would seem to reach for something or she'd grab one of her hanging toys but we always thought it was kind of accidental.   Well today I got to observe her hard at work trying to use her hands.  She was sitting in her Bumbo and I had placed a stuffed bee on the tray.  With furrowed brow and tongue sticking out, she played with that bee for a good 20 minutes!  She's still working on the coordination, and depth perception but she's definitely beginning to understand how to open her hand and close it around something.  At one point she even managed to bring the bee's wing to her mouth so she could taste it- I can see where this is going!
I know everyone tells you how fast babies grow up but it really is true!  While at Target yesterday I was looking at some dresses and saw the newborn size and just thought it was SO tiny!  It's hard for me to remember that for the first few weeks of her life, newborn clothes were BIG on her!
Spring is slowly coming to Illinois- we have enjoyed several walks the last few days and Taylor just babbles on and on during our walks.  She loves cooing and trying out different sounds.  I'll be glad when I don't have to bundle her up just to go outside!

 

"I'm gonna get you, bee!"