Four month update

Reed's first day of daycare

Gosh, where has the time gone? I’ve really meant to write an update for a while, but we’ve been busy with summer, visitors, baby stuff, various and sundry illnesses (just me, not Reed), and getting ready for daycare. Reed started daycare this week and he is doing beautifully! I had a feeling he would do well there since he’s so curious and seems to love everyone he meets, but even I was surprised how nicely he’s done there. The women caring for him have been amazed by how mellow and smiley he is (even when he poops through his clothes, blanket, and bouncy seat — twice!) and the one he seems to spend the most time with says that she enjoys him so much. That’s certainly a good thing! I think daycare is going to be a great thing for him socially since he doesn’t get a lot of exposure to anyone but Adam and me at home.

Reed just turned four months old on Monday, which is hard to believe both because the time has gone so fast and because I feel like I’ve known him forever. Reed is a master now at rolling over 360 degrees. He definitely prefers sleeping on his tummy — side is probably his second favorite, and he occasionally will stay on his back (but it’s getting more and more rare). He’s also starting to move when he’s on his tummy. He does this funny inchworm-style creep where he bunches his knees up and then pushes his body forward. He makes decent progress, but he usually gets frustrated after a while and I have to pick him up. But it blows my mind how strong he is and how early he’s doing all these things!

Another thing Reed started doing early was eating solid foods. At just over three months, his pediatrician told us we could

Sweet potato!

start feeding him solid food. His head control was really advanced, he was demanding A LOT of food each day, and he had started oggling the food we were eating. I’ve vacilated between making my own food and using organic jarred baby food since he hasn’t been too big on the things I’ve made him myself (*sniff, sniff*). The things he has loved most so far are rice cereal and sweet potatoes, and he seemed to enjoy the avocados I made him a bit (he ate them 2 out of 4 days). We’ve been moving slowly with the solid feedings since he started early and we didn’t want to push him. But he’s getting better and better at it and I think we’re going to move tomorrow to feeding him solid food twice a day. It’s messy work, but so much fun to see him EATING!

I don’t know how Adam and I lucked out to have such a healthy, smart, mellow child. He really is amazing! A colleague of mine said that Reed doing so well in daycare was a credit to me for raising him to be confident and independent, but I don’t think I had anything to do with it. Right now, I’m pretty sure anything with his personality is pure temperament. He’s just a good-natured, mellow guy who smiles at everyone he meets. I keep saying that he’s ours to ruin, because I don’t think anything Adam and I could do would make him a better person than he already is. We just have to encourage him to keep being confident and friendly and curious about the world. And there’s nothing more important to me to help him be the best Reed he can be.