Dashing through the snow

Merry Christmas!

Franklin's cool new things

Franklin has started doing some really cool new stuff lately. He can grab onto the rings hanging from the toys on his activity tent and PULL! He sings a lot, to sleep, and sometimes in conversation with those of us already gifted with speech. He has a lot to say, and loves being spoken to.

He also has started really working those tummy muscles. Suddenly he has learned to engage them to pull himself up when sitting. Instead of slouching further and further back on the couch, he now pulls himself more upright. And, during tummy time, yesterday he actually lifted his bottom up off the floor and pulled his legs underneath him. Matt claims because he moved a little, it is crawling, but I'm holding out.

Theo discovers TBall!

Theo discovered he does like to use his T-Ball for its intended purpose, not just as a lawn mower!

Franklin's Four-month stats

And in this corner, Frankie G, weighing in at 15 lbs, 15 oz, and 26 1/4 inches, and in the other corner, Theo E., weighing in at just under 30lbs, 37 3/4 inches! Who will win the battle of the whiny brothers? Ha ha, just kidding, but since both kids went to the doctor today, we get both stats. Franklin has flipped percentiles, he's now in the 75th for weight and the 90th for length. It seems despite all the chins, the kid's lengthening out, and measures up real close to his brother at four months. Back then Theo was 15lbs, 12 oz, and just over 26 inches, too! Almost identical. One difference, though: Theo had and still has a giant, 99th percentile head circumference. Franklin's hovering at just above 50th percentile in that department.

Oh, and for the record, that tooth I thought he was getting at three months...still waiting on it. False alarm.

Giggle videos!

Franklin is 4 months old

Franklin turned four months old on Thursday. We'll get his growth stats after his doctor's appt next week, which will no doubt be extraordinary. Look at all of those chins! He loves to sit in his activity chair, and can play with some of the toys and even bounce now and then; or hang out under one of his activity tents, kicking the sides to make the toys move, or batting the toys with his hands. He enjoys tummy time more and more and wiggles his body like he can't wait to learn to crawl. He rolled over from his tummy to his back just yesterday and this morning rolled onto his side from his back. He grabs onto whatever is near his hands, and loves to grip my clothes when he nurses. He loves to watch his brother, who can elicit little baby laughs from Franklin with only a smile. Franklin's face lights up nearly every time he sees his Daddy, who seems to to be his favorite grown-up in the world. I'm not saying he doesn't love his Mommy, but his feelings for his Daddy are clearly very special.

I've got the whole world, in this laundry basket

The other, while I was watching Theo while I had the stomach flu, I watched as he put nearly every single toy he had, starting with the smallest ones, and building up to the bigger ones, into a green laundry hamper. He was pretty pleased with himself, of course.

Theo likes to hold Franklin

Laughin' and playin'

In the last week, Franklin has started laughing, held his own bottle for a few seconds, and interacted with his toys. Big stuff. Unfortunately the video of him laughing kind of falls short - by the time we got the camera on him, he seems kind of overstimulated and I'm the one who is laughing like crazy. Same thing with the toy interaction, Franklin was lying under his activity tent thingy and actually hitting at the toys and kicking the support bars to make the toys move. We didn't get the hitting with the hands stuff on tape, but the kicking. We do have a one-second video of him holding his own bottle! I'll share the last two with you all, at least!

Cute in his chair

Franklin doesn't dig the bouncy chair nearly as much as his brother did, but he does like to hang out on the table in it while we're eating and be part of the gang. I think he likes to watch us eat too...he's already showing an interest in food other than mom's milk :)

Story time

I love it when Theo shares things he likes with Franklin. Here he is reading him a story.

All bundled up to play outside

Last weekend we had beautiful weather and I enjoyed some time with the boys in the backyard. Theo and I threw rocks in the stream and then shared a picnic on the deck. Franklin hung out and took it all in.