Milestones

Our babies aren't just little smiley blobs anymore-they are starting to do real "stuff." When we went for their 4 month check up, the doctor asked if they were putting their fingers in their mouths and accidentally gagging themselves, and I said that I had indeed noticed that. Apparently, that's a milestone. I just thought they were stupid. Since then, we've had a lot more milestones that are even better.

At 4 1/2 months, Marie had 2 little teeth start to pop up through her gums on the bottom. They are now half way out. Michele just noticed that Will has a little bit of whiteness under his bottom gums. His little nub will sprout soon. Abby is drooling and chewing on hands and toys like crazy, but there are no signs of any teeth. She cracks me up with the way she'll just start off holding my fingers like she's being sweet, and then she pulls them towards her face while shaking her head from side to side and gets a crazed expression in her eyes. Once she gets the fingers in her mouth she gnaws at them with happy satisfaction. She started chewing on her own foot the other day. I have a picture I need to post.

Abby has her own tricks, too. She can now roll over from her tummy to her back and her back to her tummy. At first, she would get one of her arms stuck underneath her and couldn't figure out what to do, but now she knows how to move it and rolls around freely. The others watch her with envy and awe in their eyes. Okay, maybe I'm imagining the envy and awe, but I bet they wish they could do it. (Will has almost made it once, but he keeps getting that arm stuck, and he gives up and rolls back.)

Abby is still doing PT weekly for her torticollis, and I think all that extra exercise, plus the work we do with her at home is helping her not only strengthen her neck more, but also just develop more quickly in general. She spends a lot of time on her tummy for exercise, and I think we need to give the others more tummy time to help them get stronger.

They have all been eating cereal for the past month. At first, I would mix 3 bowls of it in the mornings and feed them each with their own spoons. This got to be too much so I now just mix up one big bowl of it, and feed them assembly-line fashion with one spoon. It's hilarious to see them open their mouths as the spoon approaches.

Abby is doing the best. She loves it and is getting the swallowing part down. Marie, however, still doesn't know quite what to do with it. The first time I gave Marie a spoon of it, she looked at me in horror and started to cry immediately. Now, she usually just sticks out her tongue after every bite and pushes it all out. Will did this at first, but he's getting better. So far, they have had rice and oatmeal cereal.

Last night, I tried out green beans at dinner time. They found this to be highly offensive. The faces they made were priceless. I'm sure the poopies that will follow will be highly offensive to me. That green bean baby food looked and smelled bad going in...I can't imagine what it's going to be like on the other end. YUCK!