A four month old! How can it be?! We are so thankful for you, darling, and we love watching how God grows you each month! The last week, especially, has seemed to bring something new each day. What a delight you are to our family! It is becoming a daily occurrence that the three of us gather around you to admire you and enjoy your smiles and vibrant vocalizations. You are our pleasant, little, cuddly princess!
The past month was quite a roller-coaster for you in terms of experiences and developments. You have transitioned into longer periods of wakefulness during the day, and it seems your sleep has matured quite a bit as well. The latter took a couple weeks of chaos for you to adjust, but now, thankfully, you seem to be settling into a routine of three naps and a long, 12-13 hour night. You have been experimenting a lot this past week with your voice, and it's hilarious to listen to you "talk" to anyone who will listen. You are definitely more talkative than your brother was at this age! You're mixing many vowels and consonants, rolling your r's from the back of your throat, and seeing how loud you can be at points.
You are weighing in at 6.8 kg (almost 15 pounds, around the 80th percentile) and somewhere over 63 cm in length (about 25 inches, around the 75th percentile). You nurse on average five times during the day and once at night, though you are not terribly consistent with all of that yet. You are still wearing your brace, but we're hopeful that you'll be finished with it next week! Though you don't seem to mind it too much, you are definitely quite the wiggleworm when you have a few minutes of "freedom" to stretch and move your legs uninhibited. You have tried to pull your body up to sit a few times, obviously nowhere close to doing so, but it's fun to watch you try.
You are thrilled about your new abilities to hold and grip items and manipulate things with your hands. You absolutely love to hold cloth material, and you have a few favorite toys -- a couple rattles and some sphere-shaped malleable contraptions of wood and plastic. You also have begun reaching out for items and people and holding onto our arms and shoulders when we hold you! Of course, everything must be explored with your mouth! You haven't successfully sucked on your fingers yet, but your fist is a favorite. And it appears that you prefer to suck on your own tongue when you are tired and about to fall asleep! It's quite cute to watch.
With your sleep maturing this past week, you've actually woken up happy a couple times! Whether happy or not, the moment you see our faces, yours lights up with pleasure. You seem to have become accustomed to falling asleep on your own now, whether at naptimes or after waking in the middle of the night to talk for a few minutes or eat. In fact, it is getting a little more difficult to take you out in the pram between naps as you are quite quick to fall asleep in it! You've come a long way from refusing to sleep in a stroller! You love to be outside, to lie under a tree and observe the leaves and the sky, and we even captured a few pictures of you lying in a pile of leaves this month!
Most notable experience this past month was a family vacation to the beach resort town of Side, Turkey. You traveled quite well (you love being carried around all day when we travel), and you had no issues adjusting to sleeping at the hotel and sharing a room there with your brother. You even took a brief nap on the beach each afternoon! You stuck your feet in the Mediterranean, which you did not like, and you spent most of the vacation charming the hotel staff and us with your sweet smiles. The Turkish staff especially loved to greet our little "Elif" (and big brother "Alim") at every meal.
Your brother loves sharing a room with you, and you have impressed us with your ability to sleep through his loud whispers, calling out to us, sneezes, coughs, and even singing and clapping! You absolutely love to watch him play and talk, and he loves to bring you toys, hold you in his lap, feel how heavy your dirty diapers are (haha!), and "read" books to you. We have often wished family were closer so that they could observe and delight in your daily developments, but we have been so thankful for Skype and the opportunity to stay connected so easily.
You are a treasure, dearest. We are thankful for who you are, the sweet little girl whom God has made you to be thus far. Happy four-month birthday!
Lovingly,
your daddy and mommy
Evangeline Elif - 4 month old
Sheer delight! (presumably because she's able to stretch her legs?!)
Talking, talking, talking
And one last one for a good size comparison
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