Olive's World: Happy Halloween!

Me, as a PUMPKIN!!

Hi all, hope you had a lovely Halloween! It was my first ever, but I think I made out ok, even though I didn't get any candy!! That was a bummer, but seeing as how I still don't have any teeth, I guess it was not a big deal in the end. This year, I decided to be a PUMPKIN! I LOVE pumpkins!!!

So, I saw my first snow this past weekend! Can you believe that there was a snowstorm (with many inches of snow) in October?!?! This doesn't bode well for the upcoming winter, when I will be schlepped back and forth every day by mommy and daddy to and from daycare (at least in December)! Oh well. I am a New Yorker after all, so I am sure I will do fine. I mean, I have been riding the subways since I was just a month or two old, so I can handle anything!

I had my 4-month doctor's checkup yesterday, and I did GREAT!! I grew another half an inch, and gained about 3/4 of a pound. Now, I weigh 13 pounds and 6 ounces (42nd percentile) and am 25.5 inches tall (90th percentile)! Daddy is excited because he says I will grow up to be a model, since I will be tall and skinny!! Mommy is just worried (she always worries!!!!) whether I am eating enough!! But, I am doing great, so says the doctor! Plus, I was super brave for my shots -- I had 3 shots in my legs and got an oral vaccine again. I cried more for the oral vaccine than I did for my shots!!! Mommy was surprised and very proud of me! I stopped crying as soon as the shots were done! Now I am all set for shots until my 6-month checkup -- I'm growing up so fast, I don't have to go to the doctor's every month anymore! Yay! The doctor was also very impressed by how developed I am and said that I am now ready for solids!! First up....rice cereal?!?! Doesn't sound very tasty (I had personally been hoping for a hamburger and fries), but I'll take it as a start I guess. Baby steps....

Seriously, mom??? What's happening here?!?! No candy??! Just pumpkins?!?!

Mommy and daddy are buzzing with news about our potentially moving in a few months! They keep asking me if I am ready to be a "country baby." Frankly, I am worried that I will be so bored out in the country since I am clearly a city baby and Manhattan is all I know!! I mean, how will I sleep when there are no sirens and honking every 10 minutes all day and night?!?! Mommy and daddy will have to tape the sounds of the city to play for me to lull me to sleep I think. I only saw the house they have been talking about once (when mommy took me around in the babybjorn the first time she saw it), but I think it looked pretty nice. I hope I like it out there!

I had a bit of a sleep regression for the last few weeks, where I was not sleeping well and was waking up several times a night and crying. Mommy was exhausted and said that she felt more sleep-deprived the last few weeks than she even remembered being since I got back from the hospital! But, then she started putting me down for naps earlier, and instituted a much earlier bedtime (I now am put down starting at between 6 and 630 every night), and as of Friday night, I have been sleeping much better and am sleeping in longer stretches again. Still not back to the consistent 7-7 sleep schedule I had for a few weeks last month, but it is an improvement regardless. Hope this lasts!!

I have been developing a lot in my skills since my last post! I have now laughed a number of times in a row (always when mommy makes loud squeaking smoochy noises when she kisses my cheeks in the morning), which she says never gets old! Otherwise, here are some of my current favorite pasttimes in no particular order:

1. I can now pick up things and transfer them from one hand to the other! (I know, I am SOOOO advanced!) Mommy was excited when she saw me do this for the first time last week....although I think she might have been more excited had it not been 3am in the morning....and had the object I was passing back and forth not been my pacifier (see #2 below).

2. I LOVE LOVE LOVE taking the pacifier out of my mouth with my hand and playing with it. I do this often. Many times a night, especially at bedtime. Here is the sequence: mommy or daddy puts the pacifier in my mouth; I suck on it a few times; my left hand moves towards my mouth and I grab the pacifier out of my mouth with my hand; I look at the pacifier in my mouth; I turn the pacifier around and try to put it back in my mouth, but can't because it is usually sideways; I either slam my hand (while holding the pacifier) on the crib mattress a few times to see if I can make it right and then try to put it back in my mouth (unsuccessfully); I then drop the pacifier off to the side and then my hand tries to find the pacifier in my mouth (where it is not); and I get frustrated that I don't have a pacifier to suck on and cry out, whereupon the above sequence repeats. Many times. Every night. Again and again. The doctor was very impressed that I am able to do this because it is very advanced!! But, that's me!!

3. I also LOVE LOVE LOVE grabbing my feet. I do this whenever I can. With or without socks. With or without footed pajamas. I do this when in the crib, when I am sitting, and even at bath time!! I love it when daddy changes my diaper (not mommy, only daddy) because he allows me to grab my feet and put them in my mouth (which I can do now -- I am SO flexible) while I am being changed! (Mommy is more strict and keeps a solid grip on both my legs at all times so I can't grab my feet -- so restricting!!)

Finally, I am looking forward to the visit from grandma Hong and grandpa Jim next week! Mommy told me that grandma made me lots of cute bibs and knitted me a pretty sweater and will bring me all sorts of goodies (including flannel sheets -- I LOVE flannel!!!), woohoo!! Can't wait!!