Updates (long overdue)

• Joseph is now over 4 months old.
• At his 4 month appointment he weighed 21 pounds 12 ounces and was 27 inches long (both off the charts). He is HUGE.
• Rolling: Joseph’s new trick! First the last couple weeks he has been rolling from his stomach to his back sporadically. Last Friday he rolled from his back to the tummy for the first time and now that he has been doing this almost every time I put him on the floor since. However, he has a harder time rolling the other way, so most of the time he gets stuck on his tummy and very pissed off about it. Every once in awhile he puts the two skills together and suddenly he is moving. Yesterday I put him in the middle of the floor and all of sudden he had traveled about three feet and way by the wall. I know this is the beginning of the end for me; already I can’t really run into the other room to get something anymore. Mobility . . . yikes.
• He is very ticklish all over and being tickled is one of his favorite things. It brings out the best belly laughs.
• One of the best behaved times I have ever seen him was at the Wells big end of summer party (live music and lots of people to hold him). If he is being held and there is lots of stimulation (people, music, new things to see) he is very happy. The day we spent at the fair was another time when he did not cry once.
• I have discovered that a small brown smudge on his left thigh is not dirt but is actually a light birthmark, a lot like one I have on my tummy and call my shooting star.
• He has two very cute dimples on his cheeks (as well as dimples where all his knuckles should be).
• For those of you who haven’t seen him in person his hair is reddish (you can’t tell that much from the pictures). His first hair in back was a dark rich red, and the newer fuzz on top is lighter orangey, strawberry blonde. I am very curious to see what it finally ends up being!
• When he was born his eyes seemed almost black; they were so dark you couldn’t differentiate his pupils. However they have now transformed to a rich dark brown.
• I’ve lost all the baby weight, but not the tummy. Guess that is my pregnancy memento.
• He is good at many things. Sleeping is not one of them.
• We have used the jumper thing a few times. He doesn’t quite get the jumping idea. Instead he spins himself in circles and looks like he is dancing.
• He is working very hard on sitting up. When put in any sort of reclined seat (his car seat, swing, bouncy seat) he looks like he is doing crunch because he tries so hard to sit up.
• He also really enjoys “airplane,” standing on my tummy, and being held up high. Most of the time even if he is screaming and you try one of these games the crying suddenly turns into almost manic laughter. If this doesn’t work you know you are really in for it.
• Mom got a night out with the girls last Friday! Grandfather/Bob/my father (we can’t figure out exactly what his is going to be called) babysat very successfully for 2 ½ hours while I went to the Bobcat and Reggie’s with Crystal, Pam, and friends. Soo much fun! Father was able to get Joseph to go back to sleep when he woke up—something even I can’t do half the time.
• We’re in love. It’s like a fairytale romance (plus lots of body fluids). We could gaze into each others eyes all day long.