Four (and a half) Months!

The other small person in our family had a checkup, too.  Healthy, happy Jamie weighs in at 15 pounds, 8 ounces, and is 26 inches long. 

 

He’s only rolled over, like, twice.  Too much work, you know?

 

He’s his own boy with his own personality, but it sure is tough to keep from comparing him to Charles at this age.  I guess that’s normal, when you have more than one child.  As much as you totally understand that they are completely different, you still search your memory and your blog archives to see how they track compared to the other(s).  And it says a lot about how skewed our perception of infants was when we had Charles; I mean, I know he was a big boy, but Jamie is top-of-the-charts and still comes nowhere near Charles’ stats.  Charles was 19 pounds at four months of age.  NINETEEN.  Makes our chunk of Jamie seem small.

 

I tell you what, though: I can’t find those 3.5 pounds in photos at all.

 

 

 

 

The same rubber-band arms, the same chubby cheeks.

 

Jamie has really perked up in the last month, as one would expect a four-month-old to do.  Well, really, he’s almost five months old, now, but we were late with the doctor appointment so we could combine the kids’ checkups.  Anyhow, Jamie has started to recognize people and things, and he’s moved onto that stage of what Tony calls “It Doesn’t Exist Until I Put It In My Mouth.”  He’s also laughing and smiling a ton, which is just so rewarding.

 

I’ve fallen into the trap of babying him a bit more than I probably should just because, well, he’s the baby.  With Charles, as the first, I was constantly reading and researching the stages of development, moving him and challenging him to do the next thing.  This time, I’m not working as hard, and so I haven’t, perhaps, kept Jamie as engaged as I could have.  He’s just so mellow, it seems sort of natural to let him play with his toys.  Not to mention that it’s convenient – the fact that he plays alone while Charles never really did makes it easier to take care of Charles, the dog, dinner, laundry, etc.  But last night, after pouring over blog archives (what a great resource), I realized that at 4 months was about when we started putting Charles in the exersaucer and scooter.  So, I got those toys out.  And Jamie loves them, of course.

 

It’s really great how you get just what you need.  We had a horrible experience as new parents with Charles.  Tony doesn’t remember most of his first six months.  I remember lots of good times, but also lots of tough nights.  Colic, chronic diaper rash, lots of feedings for a growing boy.  But Charles is a really fantastic kid, and if all those experiences were what was needed to add up to the three-year-old I have today, then I wouldn’t want it any other way.  And the fact is, we were NEW.  We didn’t have other kids who needed our attention.  We had nothing but time and energy to devote to Charles’ needs. 

 

Now?  We have Jamie.  And he’s easygoing, mellow, sure, but he’s not lacking in interest.  He’s silly and funny, vocal and active.  He’s cuddly and self-soothing.  He sleeps a lot better than Charles did (even if he still wakes up every two hours to be fed, he doesn’t fuss as much as Charles and he goes to bed for his first 2-hour chunk early), he doesn’t have the colic or diaper rash (thank you, cloth diapers), and it is such a relief.  What do people do when they have their easy baby first and their tough baby second? 

 

I’m glad I don’t know.  I’m glad I have Jamie.  What a love he is.