Federica at 4 months

Federica is four months now, and I feel like that is starting to sound like a long time.  Luckily she is growing in slow motion.  At her doctor appointment around 3.5 months, she was exactly the same size Ben was when he was 3.5 weeks.  She was 11.5 lbs and 23 inches, which were both around the 12^th percentile. (For comparison, Ben was 12.5 lbs at his one month check, which was 98^th %.)  She can still fit all of her 3 month clothes, but I have just switched to the 6 month clothes because frankly I am ready for new clothes, and it was easier to leave the entire 3 month wardrobe in St. Louis.  They both wore the same 6 month sized Halloween sleeper, and it was so big on her, whereas Ben only wore it for a picture as it was too small to actually wear.

Ben on the left and Federica on the right.

 

   

  

 

We started transitioning her to the crib instead of the rock-and-play sleeper after we came back to Italy.  It was about a week before she made it the whole night in her crib in the other room, because it is easier for me to put her in the pack-and-play next to me and rock it, so I can get back in bed sooner.  She is still getting up two or sometimes three times a night, but now I am trying to feed her less frequently during the night, and sometimes sending Tim in instead.

She has been doing great with our friend Valentina for three days a week since I have gone back to work, though it still breaks my heart to leave her.  The first day or two, she wasn’t interested in her bottles, but she figured all that out by the third day.  Tim even took one of my days and stayed with both kids all day by himself, and he says he would do it again.

Fede has been holding her head up straight and doing little push-ups during tummy time.  She can squirm upwards and sideways in her crib whether she is on her tummy or her back, and she can flip onto her back if she gets mad on her tummy.  She likes sitting up and looking around, and she can sit very well in the bumbo, and somewhat sit in the boppy.  She smiles often at people she knows, and laughs every now and then when we tickle her, and sometimes laughs at Ben.  She still loves to watch him, and he still loves to tell her things and give her hugs and kisses.  She has one or more fingers in her mouth nearly all the time, and has been drooling some.

Loves sitting in the Bumbo

Intently playing in the Jumperoo

Still wearing Newborn shoes.

Ben telling her all about the ocean.

Ben’s latest cute thing is pretending that my egg slicer is a guitar.  They must have one that he plays with at daycare.  And it’s really not a stretch, because when he plucks the strings of the egg slicer, it does make noise.  Sometimes he sings “Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star”, and sometimes he sings a “bing ba bing” song that he makes up.  He has sung for Federica a couple times, and this morning, before she was even up (she was awake in her crib), he got out the egg slicer, said “Ica”, and went to her door, opened it, walked right up to her crib, and started playing for her.