the adventures of mischa: March 2008

i have some shocking news. yep, it's true. it's not just a vicious rumor. you'd better believe it. little mischa is now a whopping FOUR months old. i know, i know, its pretty crazy. as you can see, he can hardly believe it either:

so let's see, some notes from the past month:

1. Mischa's four-month appointment. Even though he actually went to this appointment a week and a half early, he came in at the 85th percentile for both height and weight, and right smack in the middle for head circumference (good job buddy - your head is exactly average). Dr Lieber delighted in his little fat rolls and called him "the michelin baby," but assured me that we are NOT overfeeding him (hear that Grandpa?).

2. Milestones-wise, lots more Grabbing, Smiling, and Laughing. The grabbing bit is both exciting (for example when he now can see something he wants, grab it himself, and play with it) and painful (for example when the "thing he wants" happens to be a gigantic clump of my hair, and he's decided he'd rather die than let it go. I think i may be sporting a few new bald spots because of him). The smiling of course is delightful. The laughing even more so. A few new things that make him giggle: taking his shirt off, wiping his neck (new ticklish spot), giving him a hi-five, bicycling his legs (he loves this), fake hiccups, and, the new hit, this yellow duck washcloth puppet that our friend Carla gave us. Who would have thunk it - puppets actually work. Oh, he is also very into eating his fist, and in fact is auditioning for the circus right now by attempting to eat both his fists at the same time. i only have photos of the one-fist chomp but i assure you the two-fist feat is even more amusing.
(Grabbing:)

(Smiling:)

(Fist-eating:)

3. His other new trick -- as seen in the previous post -- feeding himself a bottle. He loves it and its pretty darn cute.

4. Just yesterday he discovered how to blow raspberries himself. he always loved it when we did it, but suddenly he realized he had the power himself. it is the funniest thing - he woke up this morning and spent ten minutes just blowing raspberries at himself. And the best is that when you do it he now tries to do it back at you, and he has started sticking his tongue out if you stick it out at him. First signs of communication :)

5. He has a new favorite piece of furniture - the Bumbo chair. Now what, you may ask, on earth is a Bumbo? well, its one of those things that no baby really needs, is probably completely a marketing ploy, and can be roughly described as a very overpriced piece of molded plastic. however, some babies, mischa included, seem to LOVE it, so you find yourself suckered in despite knowing full well that its an overpriced piece of plastic (that he'll probably use for 2 months and then get bored of). But basically it is a little chair that he can sit in that is designed to allow him to sit completely upright, even if he's too young to sit up unsupported still. You see, being a Very Sophisticated Child, as mischa of course is, he has long ago become somewhat bored with the recliny-ness of his bouncy chair. he thinks that reclining is WAY too close to lying down. and lying down, of course, is for babies. meanwhile a sophisticated child like him is ready to sit up like the grownups. you'd often see him doing little baby sit-ups in his bouncy chair, working his abs as hard as he could and leaning way forward, thinking he mught be able to just sit up properly in it and finally enter the realm of the adults. so in comes the Bumbo. (click arrow for slideshow)

as you can see, i think he mosly likes it because it allows him to more easily grab on to his own two feet. But it also gives him a good view of his new friend, Puddy the 105-year-old cat.

6. finally, here are just a couple silly shots of the four-month-old mischa posing for the camera, in the snazzy grown-up looking shirt our friend who owns a vintage clothing store gave him: