She is 16 weeks old now and will be 4 months old a week from this coming Monday. I am sure there are numerous obvious skills she will be gaining in the near future that will get lots of attention. But as a first time parent there are many new skills Mia has obtained over the last month that have caught our attention and made us smile.
Socializing
Not only is Mia smiling now (has been for a while) but she is also socializing with us in many new ways lately. Now she will smile back at us (or even strangers) when smiled at and also mimic facial expressions sometimes. Even when she is fussy (not often) we can get a smile out of her just by smiling at her. The past few weeks have also brought lots of coos and new noises, and baby giggles!! One of the first times we heard the giggles were when Dan was holding her in the air, on her stomach and moving her side to side. The giggles are so awesome to hear!
More Tummy Time and Rolling Over
We can no longer say that Mia does not like Tummy Time. She used to tolerate it for about 1-2 minutes and then we would give in and put her on her back but now we can actually get her to smile while on her tummy and we do tummy time several times a day for several minutes at a time. So what has all this extra tummy time led to (and probably just maturation)?! Another new skill for Mia! Mia can now turn over from her tummy to her back! She did this for the first while at her Aunt Emily and Scott's house. We had her playing on her tummy and Mom and cousin Hannah were watching and suddenly (but slowly) she turned over! She does not turn over all the time now. We have seen her do this now probably six more times but we know she can do it now. Probably won't be too long and she will be turning over from back to belly. She likes to roll to her side all the time and she sometimes seems so close to turning to her belly. So one day soon she will.
The Johnny Jumper and Being Upright
One day Dan decided Mia looked bored. So he got out the Johnny Jumper that we got from someone in his family (hand me down). We put it up on the kitchen door and stuck Mia in it and what do you know Mia loves it! We have to put a towel or small blanket behind her in it because she is still a little small but we have had her in it a few minutes every day since. She seems to get a kick out of being upright and does really well in it! We think that part of the reason she does so well in it already is that she has always liked to try to stand. Her Grandpa Bateman thinks that she will even walk early because she seems so strong. We will just have to wait and see if Mia agrees
Grabbing Objects (mostly to get to her mouth)
Mia is getting a lot more use out of her little floor mat/gym lately. She is getting so good at not only swatting at objects above her but also grabing them and holding on to them. Most things (if she can and they fit) end up in her mouth. She actually gets pretty frustrated sometimes when she can't quite get them there.
Consistant Sleep and Better Napping
While Mia has always been a great sleeper she has become an even better sleeper. She has not always been consistant or a very good napper (yes this comes with age). We are VERY spoiled though we know. She was actually sleeping over 6 hours a sleep at night beginning at 5 weeks. She might have even done this sooner but we were probably a little overly cautious and did not let her sleep through until this time (she is nursing). For a while Mia slept 6-7 hours a night and then for a few weeks it was 8-10 hours. We really were not complaining at all about 8-10 hours. Then one day she decided to sleep 12 hours. This was at about 10 weeks old! She was inconsistant about this for a while and would sleep anywhere from 10-12 hours at once. Now however she has seemed to master her night time sleep. She now goes to bed between 7:30 and 8 (this gradually got earlier) and gets up between 7:30 and 8am each morning. So she is now sleeping 12 hours every night!
Up until she was about 13 weeks old Mia took about 4-5 little naps a day for about 25 minutes each. Now she has gotten the morning nap thing down (which is about normal for her age). Each day after being awake for about 1 1/2 hours she goes back down very easily for a morning nap and naps every day (90%) for 1-2 hours. In the afternoon she is less consistant (this will come in a few months), she naps for 35 min to 1 hour on average and then takes a third mini nap in the evening a couple hours before bed. Some times there is even a fourth nap included if she does not nap very long in the afternoon. So the naps are getting more routine as her little tummy and brain mature as well.
As we pass the 4 month mark Mia is going to be growing and growing and learning more and more things each day. What a wonderful journey parenthood is!!
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