Another month came and went – Four month update

I know I was a bit late with the three-month update, but nevertheless this month has seriously sped by. Sure, we were busy planning, packing, cleaning and moving, but that didn’t deter Storm from pursuing and achieving developmental milestones at super speed.

Here’s what he learned this month: leaning forward when sitting with support, rolling from back to side, rolling from side to belly (and once in a while even rolling from belly to back again), sticking out his tongue in imitation of someone, squealing with delight, blowing raspberries and spit bubbles, reaching for, grabbing and holding on to objects with clear intention, with only his hands or with hands and feet. And of course seized objects are now being explored with his mouth as well.

First, let’s journey though Storm’s learning to grab things.
At 3 months, we were still in the accidental grab phase, that is, if an object was on or near Storm, it would sort of somehow end up in his arms.

3 months and 3 days. Somewhat accidental grab, still.

From 3 months and 5 days, we began seeing more intentional behaviors – focused interest in certain objects, which sometimes resulted in Storm hitting them with his hands, and sometimes he managed to get a hold of them.

3 months, 8 days. First time clearly grabbing a loose object of his own accord.

At 3 months and two weeks, he was able to hold onto two stationary objects with both hands at the same time.

And then we were getting ready to move, which resulted in many an act of grabbing not being documented due to packing/cleaning/traveling. But once we had moved, the grabbing skills trajectory progressed rapidly.

16 weeks – starting to get a hold of grabbing weird-shaped moving objects.

17 weeks – grab it and taste it.

4 months. Two-handed grabbing. We’re definitely getting there.

4 months, one day. Grabbing on location (we’re at the Met). Intention meets coordination, meets mouth.

Despite the abundance of photographic documentation of Storm learning to grab, this skill actually felt a minor development this month. Where things moved really fast was in the realm of self-propulsion, specifically rolling.

He was around 16 weeks old when he really ramped up his rolling game. It seemed like it came out of nowhere when he suddenly started rolling from back to belly, but of course there were lots of precursors, once I thought about it. During the 4th month, he rolled from belly to back a few times, and started developing his back muscles. He began pulling from a leaned back position to an upright one, and getting frustrated that he couldn’t go farther. He became better at sitting up, though he still needs support, mostly to prevent him from tilting sideways. Just after we came to New York, we noticed that he started turning on his side from his back- at first mostly when in search of something to chew or lick on, like a particularly attractive patch of sheet or blanket.

But then he started exploring his legs and what they could do. At first he would just lift up his knees towards his belly, but it didn’t take long for him to begin stretching out his legs.

And once you have mastered lifting your legs upright in the air, while laying on your back, it’s not a big stretch to let them fall to the side rather than back down, and then you have turned sideways, and it’s not too hard to let your legs and lower body roll a bit further from there.

It took more practice to figure out what to do with his arms so that they would prevent his upper body from completing the roll. He’s got it 90% of the time now.

In the beginning, however, Paulus, Opa Theo and I had to stage a number of rescue operations when Storm had gotten his hands and arms stuck under various of his other body parts and consequently would erupt in a series of frustrated cries.

And we’re still working on getting back from belly to back. The fact that his arms could be helpful in this endeavor has yet to occur to him.

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Working on an alternative strategy involving bum and knees. Not so useful for rolling over, but I think you’ll find this skill useful in the near future, little one, so keep it up. 

 

Nevertheless, it’s safe to say that irrevocably gone are the days where our boy could be left unsupervised on couches and beds, and just near stuff in general. I’ll tell you when you I figure out the best way to pee and keep Storm safe at the same time…

 

In between achieving big milestones, Storm has kept busy exploring the outdoors, hanging out with family, laughing, enjoying tickles, reading, songs and gestures, and generally being melt-my-heart amazing.

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Enjoying the last rays of California sunshine before leaving for the other coast

Three generations casually hanging out, making selfies…

Story time with Papa 

Current favorite song

 

Foot tickles with Opa

Morning is the time to play in bed.

Getting better at sitting

Laughing. Clearly. 

Papa and Storm

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