B Diddle (Lucy's current nickname) is a marvelous little girl. She has gone from newborn to baby overnight and seems so much more grown-up every day. She is now falling asleep in the car pretty easily and even made it on a two hour car ride from the San Fran airport to Aunt Crystal's house. I used, as Jim calls it, a stalactite boob to help her make it the last 20 minutes, but getting in the car is no longer traumatic. Her most recent discoveries include her feet and smacking her lips. She is even playing mimicking games now. Tummy time is no longer a threat to humankind and she seems to enjoy watching a ball roll by while she is on her tummy. She prefers tummy time on mommy or daddy and we are happy to oblige. She is absolutely loving sitting upright and does the cutest little crunch to try to get there herself. Her hard word and determination will get her there soon! For now, she loves to hold hands and see the world from an upright position. This past week she started the process of rolling over from her back to her front. She can get all the way up on her side, but then her arm gets stuck, so we are practicing this with guidance, too. What an incredible four months it has been!
This morning Lucy had her four month check-up and shots :-(. She is 24 inches long and weighs an even 13 pounds, more than double her birth weight! The doctor encouraged me to begin positively associating something, such as jazz music, at bed time so that we can begin to help her fall asleep on her own and not just at my breast. This makes sense and we are going to sllllloooowwwwllllyyyy begin, but it does make me a little sad. One day I am going to wake up and she isn't going to need me at all. That is the goal, though. A strong, confident, healthy, kind little girl and this includes falling asleep without mama. The pediatrician also confirmed our inclination not to put her in a device (exersaucer, Bumbo seat) until she is able to independently do the thing the device is doing for her. She can go in the Bumbo after she can sit on her own and can go in an exersaucer after she can weight her feet on her own. Hopefully we won't need that huge piece of baby equipment at all! Shots are awful...red face, screaming in pain, terrible, horrible, no good, very bad experiences. I was much calmer this time having been through it once and Goose calmed much more easily this time. She seemed unaffected by the time we got home. Of course, she is being pampered today and will hopefully get some good rest out of this nap.
At this point, Lucster has been on 14 planes and been through airports 20 times. She is a patient and calm traveler and doesn't seem to mind flying at all. She sleeps, eats, plays and chats. Luckily she still likes to be in the front carrier and baby wearing is a life saver at the airport, particularly through security and when flying with a baby alone....which Lucy and I did last week for the first time! News arrived at the end of March that I was accepted to University of California at Berkeley and we made a last minute trip to go out and visit. We got to spend the weekend at my sister's house and the girls doted over Lucy the whole time. We are so lucky to have them and it looks like they are going to have the next five years to get to know each better when we move to California this summer. Wait, what? Who is crazy enough to move across the country with a baby? Oh, we volunteered for this? Let the packing begin. Luckily we had a wonderful visit and the program seems like it is going to be a near perfect fit. The childcare facility for infants, while painfully expense, is absolutely charming and I feel good about taking Lucy there (she will be 8 months old by that time, too, which means more solid foods and less mama's milk). Jim and I are a great team. I am so grateful to have him in my court. I am confident we will get the logistics ironed out, get the house packed and sold and arrive in California in one piece. The part I am nervous about is uprooting B Diddle and dragging her across the country then starting a PhD program and being away from her so much of the time. We are making a five year commitment, but she is always going to be my first priority. Hopefully we can get out there in the beginning of June to get settled into a new environment, time zone and routine so that she is nice and comfy before the start of the school year.
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