Dear Edie,

You are four months old today! So much has changed this month for you. Your personality is more and more pronounced and I can tell that you are going to be a real character when you get older. Scratch that. You already are a real character.
You can go from total joy to complete rage in mere seconds, but if I do something funny while you're screaming you'll often stop mid-cry to watch with fascination. I call you my little Faker Baker. You also talk like crazy; babbling with such intensity that you appear to be speech-making. You're laughing all the time these days and funny noises and voices are most often the things that make you giggle.

You adore bath time and recently started splashing like mad while we bathe. You must love the feel of the water slapping your hands and feet because it looks like you're doing jumping jacks in the water. You got some bath toys for Christmas and they've added to your bath time fun. You still love to stand whenever possible but seem to like cramming things into your mouth even more. You like reading Goodnight Moon (and other books) before bed and started helping me to hold the book and turn the pages this month, which I think is the cutest thing ever.

While you rolled over a few times at the start of this month, I think you decided "been there, done that" and have since boycotted the whole rolling over business. You still enjoy tummy time, you just seem to have more interest in cramming the nearby toys into your mouth than you do in rolling over again. This week during tummy time I noticed you lifting your bum and trying to get on your knees as if to crawl, so perhaps you're thinking that crawling is your next big project.

One of your biggest accomplishments this month is the transition you made from our bedroom to your own crib in your own room. Sadly, you've decided that sleeping for long stretches this month just isn't your thing. While you used to sleep for 7 or 8 hours each night before waking to eat, you now prefer 3-5 hours at a time. Thankfully you also started to go to bed earlier and without as much fuss as last month, so we're grateful for that. Your Dad most often puts you to bed each night at 9pm and you wake up promptly at 8am, usually with two midnight wake-ups in between. You still sleep swaddled every night, but we're starting to wonder if you might outgrow it this coming month. Sometimes in the night I hear you grunting in your sleep as you strain to bust out of your swaddle, but I'm still nervous to experiment with an unswaddled night, so for now you are still our bedtime burrito. Your napping schedule is getting more routine, with 20-25 minute naps in the 10 o'clock hour, noon hour and 2 o'clock hour, then your only lengthy nap around 5:30pm, which will usually last one to one and a half hours.

I go back to work 20% starting this coming Monday and I'm already dreading the thought of someone else witnessing all your little quirks. Luckily it will be your Grandmas that will be watching you while I work, so I'm sure I'll get a detailed account of your accomplishments when I return. Until then, I'm trying very hard to appreciate all our time together.

We went to my friend Deb's house yesterday and you played with her daughter Alison and your other friends Mae and Emmeline.

Edie and Mae
Mae, Emme, Edie
Alison, Edie, Mae

While watching you four grin and giggle at each other, we found ourselves already reminiscing about the days when you were "tiny". The truth is, I suppose you're still tiny, but seeing as you now weigh in at about 14 pounds, it's hard to imagine that you were ever so small that you fit the length of my forearm like the picture I included in your One Month letter.

love you Shorts,
Mom