Tuesday, January 17, 2012

Olivia: 4 months

Olivia's cute factor has risen tenfold in the last four weeks.
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She is definitely a morning person. After a good night sleep, she is happiest and calmest in the morning. Throughout the day, she is always ready to flash her biggest smile for me. It is so much fun to hang out with such a happy and smiley baby.

In fact, I remember my boys were like this when they were little too. I wonder how much of this is due to genetics or if it has to do with my caregiving style.

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During my alone time with her, I like to experiment with all sorts of activities to elicit smiles from her. Like her brothers, she loves all my quirky expressions and funny noises I make and would break out in chuckles. The most musical sounds an infant can make!

Once she even mimicked the sounds that I made for a few consecutive rounds. When I said 'ga-ga', she responded with a clear 'ga-ga'. When I uttered 'ga-ga-ga', she repeated the same 'ga-ga-ga'. We went on for a few more rounds till she stopped. I thought it is a little early for her to be doing this, but she did just that indeed, though it never happened again.

Whenever she sees me, she waves her arms involuntarily and kicks her legs vigorously. Once we establish eye contact, she would smile and utter a range of sounds until I pick her up.

If she heard my voice while she was being carried by someone else, she would immediately turn her head left and right, right and left till she finds me.

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If I was busy with something or someone else, she would just keep looking at me and whatever that I was doing with the most earnest interest. Such a big sweetie! Knowing just how much I matter to her really puts everything else into perspective.

She still doesn't sleep through the night. The longest stretch of sleep she had was 8 hours for a couple of nights but lately, she would wake once before 5am for a quick feed. It's alright since I am still breastfeeding her. I'm sure she will soon sleep through the night.

Her naps in the day are getting longer. In addition to the nap in the morning or midday that may last up to two hours, she grabs several 45 minutes ones throughout the day. It certainly helps that she is now able to roll from her back to tummy and has finally shown a preference to sleeping on her tummy.

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Can't resist taking this shot. :>

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Melt my heart just looking at these. :>

Lately, she has begun to look at things around the house with big interest. She stares and reaches out to grab. Whatever that she can reach, she pulls them towards her mouth and tastes them greedily.

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After some moments of tummy time and frantic toy grabbing, it's time to relax and chew some fingers.

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One of our daily games has to do with me pretending to chomp on her fingers which always makes her chuckle. Perhaps because of our games, she would generously offer me her saliva-coated fingers, every now and again, with a cheeky sparkle in her eyes. As if daring me to taste them.

Her neck is very strong now, given the practice she gets from being carried upright all the time. When supported (like in the next photo), she can sit pretty well for a minute or two.
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Lately, she is also in the phase of grabbing both her feet and staring at them as if they are the most alien-looking and interesting things she has ever seen. Very, very adorable to watch.
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The latest development for this week is her discovery of her voice. My gosh! This is one thing that really bugs me. My demure-looking baby is a GIANT screamer. She screams when she is happy. And she shrieks when she is upset. And she can go ON and ON and ON. I swear I wish there was a button or switch or knob on her that I can press to turn her off.
It's a phase, I know. For now, I just have to endure and see the bright side of it all. She is learning and discovering. One fine day, she will be bored of screaming, for as long as we don't reinforce her screaming behaviour.
Like I always say, the most wonderful thing about having my very own baby is owning the privilege to kiss her soft cheeks and sniff her intoxicating baby smell anytime I want, for as often as I like.

I'm really, really enjoying this phase of motherhood. Though the days feel so long sometimes, there are also many moments of sweetness to savour.

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The key is to cherish the good. Everything else will fall into place.





1 comment:

emma's mummy said...

Cute O, cute mummy!

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