October 3, 2007

Dear Jack, Month 4

Dear Jack,

When I was pregnant with you, I woke up at 2:20 AM every night for the last 10 weeks of my pregnancy. It is only now that I realize that this was meant to prepare me for your fourth month of life. During your third month you would sleep full 10 hour stretches. This only lasted a few weeks and was just long enough to help us remember what REM sleep was like. You now wake up at 2:20 AM every night. Three nights ago was some sort of special celebration in which you got us up FIVE TIMES. What happened? You don’t nap well and you don’t sleep much at night, so I have to ask . . . aren’t you tired yet?



Your dad is your primary caretaker during your nighttime antics. He gets up with you every time you wake up and tries to get you to go back to sleep. He only wakes me up if you’re hungry. I love him for this. The other night, he had a heart-to-heart talk with you about how he could help you sleep through the night. You just reached up and touched his face as if to say, “It’s ok dad. This will only make you stronger.” You’re funny like that, Jack.



You have made up for our lack of sleep this month by FIGURING OUT WHO WE ARE! You can now officially distinguish between your dad and mom and everyone else in the general population. When we come into a room and you hear one of our voices you stop and get a thoughtful look on your face as if to say, “Wait . . . wait, I recognize that beautiful sound.” Your eyes begin scanning the room and your head starts cranking in the direction of our voices. When you see us, your reaction usually involves some sort of wide-mouthed, toothless grin that causes you to throw your hands up in excitement. It really doesn’t matter if we've been gone for 10 minutes or 4 hours. I’m not going to lie to you . . . I love this! We love being your parents and I’m so glad that you seem to approve of having us in that role.


You officially became playful this month. Of course, you’ve always been “played-with.” You just play back now. One of your favorite things to do when you’re nursing is to stop and stare at me until I smile at you. When I finally give in and smile, you laugh and start eating again. It all starts over again about 30 seconds later. I know that this is a bad habit to let you develop but it’s so darn cute that I can’t keep from smiling back! You also love it when dad or I try and smother you with kisses on the changing table. Your giggles make me melt!




I love you very much . . . even more than I love sleep.

mommy

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