I've stopped understanding how to record the baby's age—should I count the weeks or the months? They no longer match up: he's 17.5 weeks old but just passed 4 months. I'm quite certain it doesn't matter, except that now I pay for daycare weekly so I'm more inclined to keep track of the weeks.
Sending him to daycare has been great—way better than I imagined. He had a bit of a tough time transitioning to it, particularly figuring out how to nap in a new environment, but now that he's mostly got the hang of it he seems to be enjoying himself. I also had a bit of a tough time with the transition—I definitely cried a few times dropping him off that first week—but now we're both mostly acclimated. He seems to enjoy hanging out with other babies and I definitely enjoy being able to get some actual work done during the day.
And just a few days ago he started sleeping through the night, hallelujah. By "through the night" I mean that he goes to bed at 6pm and sleeps until 6am. (I'd prefer 8 to 8 but I guess we won't get there for a few years.) I imagine there will be a regression at some point but knowing he can do it for a few days in a row gives me hope. Though I'm now so used to getting up at 3am that I've been waking up in the middle of the night even if the baby isn't crying. Now I just have to retrain myself to sleep through the night.
Other changes: he loves to put everything in his mouth, most especially his own thumb. He started by sucking on his whole fist and then as he got a bit more dextrous he figured out how to just get his thumb in there. He sucks his thumb anytime he's hungry or tired and I'm kind of amazed how much he does it considering he never had much interest in pacifiers. If you give him a toy now he will grab it and immediately put it in his mouth.
Eating is now a full body experience: arms flailing, feet kicking, lots of grunting. Every time he has a bottle he needs to have a death grip on at least one of your fingers—if you don't give him a finger to grip then he will grab his clothes or his other hand or the bottle. He really wants to be able to hold the bottle himself but can't quite manage it yet.
He can hold his head up pretty well now but doesn't appear to be at all interested in rolling over. He drools constantly and I hope that doesn't mean his teeth are coming in soon because I would prefer not to have to deal with teething just yet. He also smiles and laughs all the time, and will very intently watch me and Josh as we talk or walk around the room. He loves to watch Josh wrestle with the dog. He also really likes TV—I put Sesame Street on the other day when he was very fussy and I have never seen him so enthralled. Josh looked after him for a few hours yesterday and reported that a Chuck Norris film provoked a similar response.
And I will at some point write something that is not baby related, I promise! It's just that nothing of non-baby interest is happening these days. I did get my second vaccine shot yesterday, though, and I'm looking forward to seeing other humans again soon!
