Arthur, Month Four

Whenever I describe Arthur on this blog or elsewhere, the word I use most often is "charming." Yes, I may be a bit biased, but he really is a charming baby - extremely social, interactive, and cheerful, and with a lot of personality for someone only four months old. Moreover, it seems like he's trying to be charming on purpose - as soon as you look his way, he pulls out all the stops, smiling and laughing and wiggling. He loves being around people and craves attention, especially from females. He also "talks" constantly, babbling and gurgling for long stretches of time.

He's also traffic-stoppingly cute! I was sitting on my front porch with Arthur when one of our neighbors actually pulled over, stopped his car, and got out to see the baby. (To be fair, that probably says more about our neighbor's eccentricity than our son's cuteness.)

Arthur can now roll over in both directions (tummy-to-back and the reverse) and uses this ability to move himself across the floor, tumbling side-over-side until he gets where he wants to be. Every day he works on crawling - I'm sure he's still many months away, but he's giving it his all. Like his sister at the same age, Arthur never stops moving - as I type this, he is flipping back and forth over and over on the living room rug.

He's very interested in toys of all kinds, including mobiles, the Whoozit, and Sophie the Giraffe, and yesterday he rolled/scooted himself all the way across the living room floor to look at a toy catalogue.
Playing "hide and seek":

The big events in Arthur's life this month were Mommy and Me and the baby gym.


Now that Beatrice is in school two days a week I have two mornings to spend just me and Arthur, which means I can take him to the same Mommy and Me and "baby gym" recreation center that Beatrice used to enjoy. Or we can just relax and watch the fountain at the Americana, as B and I used to do.

Arthur spent most of his first "Mommy and Me" session rolling over and over again, occasionally stopping to stare at Penelope, the baby next to him:





In typical newborn style, Arthur's sleep patterns remain unpredictable - he may sleep through the night one night, then be up four times the next night - but in general he gets up just once, at 4am, and goes right back to sleep after some milk, so I have it pretty good. Unfortunately he's not much of a day sleeper, though I can occasionally coax him into a brief nap - but pretty much as long as the sun is up, so is he. At least he makes good company.

Meanwhile, Beatrice is doing great with Arthur. She insists on sharing everything she gets with her brother, whether he wants it or not: today I gave her a new puzzle and she immediately took out a piece and said, "This one is for Arthur!"

"Playing" with Beatrice, who is decorating him with stickers:

She also respects his opinion: The other day Beatrice requested a certain dress to wear, then declared, "I have to go show Arthur!" She ran up to him in his seat and said, "Look at my dress, Arthur!" and then added, "Arthur, I like your shirt."

Shackleton and Arthur both begging for pancakes - next month we start solid food!