4 months

pumpkin turns 4 months old today. she had her appointment this afternoon & after a nice long nap & some food, followed by a little nap & some hysterical end of the world tears, she is now lying next to me babbling if not happily then at least contentedly with both fists shoved in her mouth. her stats- (pretty much for my own record keeping) 17lb 10oz (almost 3 lb gain); 24.5" (only .5" gain) 16.5" head. this puts her at above 95th %tile for weight, between 25-50th for length & between 50th & 75th for head circumference. pretty much where i thought she'd be.

she's hit all her milestones on or ahead of time & we were told that her new trick of constantly sticking her tongue out, eyeballing us while we eat & leaning not so subtly in for my plate is all her way of saying 'i'm ready for solids'. so off to b-r-us we went for supplies that i thought maybe i'd be needing soon, but kept putting off. let me just say that there are too many fucking choices for this stuff! i went with the most basic i could- 3 ingredient cereal that i know what those 3 ingredients are. we are going to try some tomorrow to see how it's received. i know that i don't have to give her anything at all for the first 6 months & if she doesn't seem into it- no harm no foul, we'll try again later. but i have a feeling she is going to eat it up- pun intended.
i can't say that i'm not finding this moment/milestone a little bittersweet. she's growing so quickly that my little infant has vanished before my eyes. i love seeing her grow & experience more of the world & i love seeing her personality develop & learning day by day the little girl she's going to become, but all this independence means that my helpless little baby, my constant dependent is going away. it's the first step in breaking away from mommie. i don't know how to feel about that. sure- she can roll around on her own & go from back to front (which she does nightly & anytime she sleeps now) but she still needs me to move for her, to get her from here to there or bring toy to her. after tomorrow she may start down the (hopefully long) road of food independence from me. and that thought- the thought that someday she will no longer want to nurse, makes me very sad.
of course- i am pretty much letting her call the shots on these things- she can nurse as long as we are able & she wants to. if she wants to replace a feeding with cereal- that's fine too. I am excited to see herface as she tries new tastes out & see if she likes them or not. i also don't want her to end up like i was- a very very picky eater. so to that end i will patiently let her try anything & everything when she is ready to, but i will also keep offering foods she might not like the first time.
ah- it is time for the last nurse of the night & then bed- she is pretty wiped from her afternoon so i hope she sleeps well tonight.