Four months…

Dear Noah,

Earlier this week you turned 4 months old and I am finally getting around to writing your letter. I guess this week has been busy huh? But I hope you don`t think I forgot as that is certainly not the case. You are in a bit of a clingy stage (teething related perhaps?) meaning you are not at ALL happy to play by yourself except in the mornings when you are genki (so I use this time to shower while daddy is still home, hang out the washing, eat breakfast and have coffee) but your mood tends to just go down hill for the rest of the day. Not that you are not happy at other times- just that you are not really happy unless you are in the jolly jumper or if I am holding you. Not that I expect you to be an expert at playing by yourself at 4 months or anything But this does mean I haven`t been able to sit down and write your letter in one go, instead it has taken a couple days of writing a little bit here and there to get it done.

You had you second immunization yesterday (4 months 2 days old) for DPT (Diphtheria/Pertussis/Tetanus) and it is my understanding that you will have this same shot another 2 or maybe 3 times. You cried when the needle went in but stopped as soon as it came out. Daddy was off from work yesterday and he held you while they did it and you were smiling again with 5 minutes of the shot. They didn`t measure your height but we weighed you and you came in at 6.9kg which a quick google (I wonder if google will be around when you are able to read these letters yourself?) revealed is smack bang in the middle of the weight charts. So now you really do weigh more than double what you did 4 months ago when I held you in my arms for the first time (and kept saying “I can`t believe how small he is!”)

We have had another busy, social month!!! One of the most exciting things to happen was that you met your Uncle Paul and Auntie Gem. I had been excited for WEEKS before they arrived and having them visit with us was amazing. You loved them both and you certainly loved all of the attention. They bought you stacks of toys, books, dvds and other gifts including the jolly jumper which you adore! I pop you in for a 15 minutes or so 2, sometimes 3 times a day and you get so excited.

Seeing you with my brother made me so happy too. One of my favourite photos is of him holding you while rocking a deer beanie from Nara.

Lets not forget Auntie Gem too- the photo below is of you, me, Gem & Paul while were were in Hakone. Technically your first out of town trip I guess although it was only for the day.

You also turned 100 days old last month which is an important milestone in Japanese culture. We celebrated your Okui Hajime at Baba & Jiji`s house and were lucky that it fell on a day that Paul & Gem were still visiting. I love that your Japanese grandparents are helping us do Japanese traditions with you-many of which I do not know much about. They adore you and are always excited to see you especially Jiji who takes more photos of you than me!

A couple things about you at four months that I should probably record.

Things you can do now that you couldn`t do a month ago- sit by yourself and also roll over, both ways. Although back to front has only happened a couple of times and you usually have to push yourself over by putting your feet against something (like my legs, or your play gym).

The rolling did not surprise me so much since you seemed to have been heading in that direction for awhile but the sitting came as a shock. I basically sat you down one day with no support expecting you to fall to the side onto the blanket but instead you sat there. Then 30 seconds later when you were still sitting I snapped a picture.

The first couple of times you rolled over (from tummy to back) you were naked so you were coined “The naked roller” which kind of makes you sound as if you played poker at high stakes while naked! Or gambling in a casino somewhere (while naked). Both of these things you are never allowed to do by the way. You also can not date til you are 25….we can discuss this further when you are older!

You also love to stand. Of course this is not something you can do by yourself yet but helping you stand on my lap or on the floor makes you almost giddy with pleasure!

You are with out a doubt the king of drool and we go through at least 3 bibs a day- sometimes more and sometimes you drool so much that despite having a bib you require a change of clothes. It is a good thing we have some pretty cute clothes in your closet! HAHA! So I dont mind having to do mountains of washing or changing your outfits!

Favourite toys this month include you Disney ball that has lots of attachments that you can grab on to and play with, your rings, your star and moon sassy rattle ball, takotako the socktopus and also the tinylove banana toy that hangs from your play mat/gym. Spot is still a favourite but you definitely seem to like your balls and sock animals more lately! I of course still make sure Spot is always close by though!

You still love been read to. And while I know you can`t really understand what we are saying to you yet you really love to look at the pictures and touch your books and I try to read you a couple of books each day and also get daddy to read to you in Japanese on the weekends. He is surprised how much attention you like to pay to the books.

Other things you like to do are peek a boo, row row row your boat on my legs, flying on my legs, sitting on daddy`s chest and bouncing on my knees. You also like it when anyone makes funny noises and sometimes try to imitate us- for example smacking your lips together.

We had numerous play dates this past month (and also your first sleep over. Thanks to Cassie, Nana & Gaku for hosting us!)- a trip to Lalaport with Sarah & Sakura, coffee dates with other friends, your first baby sign class (we will start going monthly from June), lunch with Cassie and Nana a couple of times (once Heather and her girls from Nagano joined us!) and also a playgroup in Yoyogi park!

It was also cherry blossom season meaning we had a couple of hanami parties- one just the three of us and another BIG one at Kinuta Koen with many lovely ladies and their families. Your first hanami party was definitely a success and I have tons of photos from the day but my favourites are these.

The hanami party above was also for Easter. I didn`t really do anything for your first Easter but next year I am sure I will plan an egg hunt and maybe also track down some books about it to share with you. I did snap a couple of “Easter” photos though. You got some chicky things from Khea…

On this past weekend we went to watch Uncle Jamesey`s football training and it was there that you first touched grass. You were in awe at first I think wondering what the hell it was. I see many picnics in your future! Probably some grass rolling too in the warmer months to come…

It was definitely fun watching you discover something new.

You are following pretty much the same schedule you were at 3 months except now you sleep better at night. Often sleeping all the way through from 8pm til 6:30am or so but more often than not you are up at least one a night between 3am-4am for a feed (like last night, you were in bed asleep just before 8pm, and slept until 11:30 when I heard you stir, wake up, cry out then resettled yourself before I even had time to get out of bed but then woke up at 3:30am to eat for 10 minutes then I popped you back in your cot and you slept until just before 7am). Sometimes you will wake up twice overnight but if this is the case it usually means you will sleep until 8am or even longer. Those couple of nights that you slept completely through the night were amazing and I had honestly forgotten what a full nights sleep felt like. That said, waking up once or twice a night. You have also gotten great at resettling yourself at night both after a feed and if you wake up but are not hungry I hear you grizzle but you don`t actually cry and then within a couple minutes you are back to sleep. Nap times are still every 1.5 to 2 hours and you will nap in your cot or in your bouncer chair. Sometimes if you are having an unsettled day I will hold you while you nap and watch tv for a bit. You usually will nap for 40-45 minutes but sometimes if you wake up and are still tired and I pick you up you will drop back to sleep within a minute. One thing that has changed in the last month is that almost all of the time (except when we are out) you sleep on your tummy. When it is nap time and we are home (and I know when it is nap time because you will start to rub your eyes and get a bit grizzly) I put you in your cot on you tummy, pat your bum and you are asleep within a couple of minutes. Here you are napping on the floor- you fell asleep yourself like this which is why you still have your bib on…

A couple times in the past month I have looked at you and can not get over how beautiful you are. I suppose I should say handsome but I really think you are beautiful. I can`t believe how much you have changed since birth and how much you have grown. I look at you and see parts of me in your and parts of daddy and when you smile at us my whole life lights up. Even your stares melt my heart…

I also love dressing you up- it is never to early to accessorize as your Aussie Nana would say.

I wonder what this next month will bring,

Love Mama

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