Happy 4th

Megan Rose turned four months old yesterday. That means today was her four-month well baby visit with Dr. G. As she did last time, Megan greeted the doctor with a nice display of her social skills. He came in to hear her hysterically laughing over a rousing game of Peek-a-boo we were in the midst of. "Ahh, that's what I like to hear! So she's laughing and interacting very well. Perfect." he said.

Actually that was the second time he came in. The first time he got to witness her turning pages in her "Miss Spider's New Car" book - something she decided to do for the very first time ever right there in the doctor's office. Then he realized he forgot his stethoscope and had to excuse himself.

She was pronounced perfect in every way and even delighted the doctor with a very nice smile directed at him when he referred to her as "Pretty girl." I do think Megan, even at four-months old, is fully aware of what that term means. It has ALWAYS gotten a smile out of her.

She is a big girl - falling in the 80th percentile for girls her age in all measured categories. She is 14 pounds 11 ounces and 25 1/4 inches tall. I do forget her head measurement already, although the scratch pad paper its written on is somewhere amongst the Miss Spider books in my diaper bag.

Outside the doctor's office, Meg delights us daily with a cache of new tricks. Today she decided to give blowing raspberries a try. Usually it means a whole big mess of spit bubbles tripping down her chin, accompanied by the silliest sound you ever did hear a baby make.

She enjoys singing and will join in any good song with her own array of lyrics disguised as cooing. She loves to laugh and does it often. She wakes up each morning happy to greet the day - although she loudly protests taking a break from it later in the form of a nap. Meg hates naps and when she finally succumbs to one her big brother is sure to do his darndest to wake her back up. Go figure.

She likes her books. She pokes a little finger at the pictures while she babbles at them. She fixes her gaze on each new page. She calms when we read. . .until she gets bored and then she lets us know she's had enough with a few well placed yells emanating from her reddening face.

Meg has a temper. Yes, this we know even at 4 months old. There are times when she is clearly yelling (not crying per se, just yelling) for the simple fact that she's ticked off at whatever great injustice has been done to her - it may be that she was simply placed on her belly or that she's been left in her play yard a moment too long.

Meg likes food. She watches 'real' food with great interest. She widens her already big blue eyes and she bobs her head forward in a move that must surely be an attempt to sneak a taste. She is particularity interested in whatever happens to be on her big brother's plate. Perhaps this is because she some how innately knows that he's the one most likely to sneak her some.

She loves being outside. She naps better outside - a fact that makes Mommy a bit bummed Megan wasn't born in the spring. :) She prefers to sit up like a 'big girl' in her stroller and not ride along in the car seat hooked to the stroller tray. She likes hanging out in the double stroller - all upright and proud in the back seat while Logan occupies the front. She smiles while she's in there and she checks out the world around her.

She likes to play games - peek-a-boo and piggy toes. They make her giggle which makes us giggle which makes her giggle more. She squeals, scrunches up her face and squints her eyes when she laughs. She loves playing with her new toys - the ones Santa brought her for Christmas. She lays on her activity quilt purposefully smacking the bar that makes the little bird pop out of its house and whistle.

She loves to take a bath. She's ditched any semblance of a bathseat and lays in the largest amount of water that allows her to splash while keeping her ears fairly dry. When she's in the tub she laughs and splashes. WE think she may be gearing up for a gold medal in the backstroke someday. She kicks her legs and flops her arms up and down. Sometimes she moves so forcibly in the water she splashes a sizable amount up into her face causing her to blink droplets from her baby-blues. She rubs them dry with her curled up first and then laughs about it before starting her swimming drills again.

She loves her people. She gives each of "her" people a beautiful toothless grin and a small sound that lets you know how much she absolutely adores you. She watches us move through her world with a great intensity - and if you happen to move away from her at a time she was hoping you had arrived to pick her up, she yells - loudly.

Megan is happy. She is opinionated. She is stubborn. She is determined. She is loving. She is cuddly and she is adored.