Ian-mo04 Ian-mo03Ian had his four month check up today and he is now a total of 17lbs 1oz and is 25 inches long. That puts him in the 90 percentile for his weight and the 50 percentile for his height. His head has grown and is now 16-1/2 inches. He received a second round of vaccinations – Diphtheria, Tetanus, Pertussis, Polio, Haemophilus Influenzae (type b HIB vaccine), Pneumococcal Conjugate, his second Hepatitis B, and Rotavirus. Yes, these are the same ones as last time. He took them rather well. He still cried as they were happening and for a bit afterwards, but by the time we were done checking out, he was fine again.

There was some good news today as well. The doctor gave us the go-ahead to start Ian on cereal. He’s allowed two servings a day, with no set amount he has to take. We’re to start off with a thin consistency at first and then gradually increase it as Ian starts to accept it. Jesse will be glad to know that we can finally start using the spoons we’ve been fishing through for the past couple of months. Ian is still on breast milk and formula, but we can increase the amount from 4oz to 6oz. The cereal is not to take the place of a feeding, but he’ll get a bite about an hour after nursing. The Doc said he can have two servings as day, preferably during the morning and early evening. After two weeks, if we want to, we can start to mix in either applesauce or bananas to add some flavor. Depending on how well he takes those (and probably another two weeks) we can start mixing in yellow vegetables – carrots, squash, etc. We are to continue to keep him out of the sun. He’s allowed some exposure, just not a lot. I’ve heard that babies can start teething as early as four months and Dr. Schnur said not to worry about it. We’ll know when he’ll starts when he has teeth. It seems that the early teeth are not as much of a problem as when he gets his molars in (around 12 months). I found out something good – even though Ian has been standing a lot and loves to stand, the doctor said that shoes really are not necessary. According to them, shoes hold no function other than keeping his feet warm. If he’s playing in the dirt, then we should put shoes on him, but he won’t be doing that for awhile and by then it’ll be cold out so he’ll have to have shoes. Also, after talking with a nurse, we should be able to put Ian in a walker or bouncer now. We’ll have to watch him to make sure he doesn’t bang his head or anything, but as long as he is holding it up fairly well (and he is), then a walker shouldn’t be a problem. I’m excited for the bouncer. I think Ian will really enjoy that.

In other news, it’s been a busy month for Ian and he has accomplished a lot of fun stuff. He is now sleeping through the night with only one wakening. There are times when he’ll get up twice a night, but that’s not very often. It’s still hit or miss, but I’m excited to say that he is doing really well sleeping at night. He has also starting trying to sit up. He is having a little problem with the balance act, but if you help support him, he’ll sit up for a bit before falling over. He is loving the idea of standing. There are times when he gets cranky that if help him stand up, he gets all happy again. Jesse and I have a fear that he’ll start walking before crawling. Speaking of which, he has the motions down, but he hasn’t put them all together yet. He’s holding his head up really well. He can get wobbly when he’s tired, but not as much as he used to. Also, he’s not rolling over completely yet, but he has been going from his back to his side and back again. It’s only 90 degrees, but it’s a start.

Ian had his first taste of swimming this past month. He wasn’t entirely sure what to think of it, but we’ve been taking him back to the pool at least once a week to get him accustomed to it. He also has started talking a lot more. Well, it’s actually screaming, but he’s happy when he does it and loves it when people listen to him. Ian joined the summer reading program at the public library this month and has already read 27 books. Most of you know how fast I read, so we’ve been going through books awfully quickly and I have slowed down a lot so Ian can pick up on my speech patterns. However, with my short attention span, we don’t normally read the books more than once, so if anyone has any suggestions, I’m all ears – we’re always looking for more. At the same time, any books we like, I’ve been adding them to his Amazon wish list so I know what to buy when I am able to.