4.5 Months: rocking and rolling

Owen weighed 17lbs 1oz at 4 months of age. He seems to outgrow another pair of pajamas every few days. 

Little by little, he's developing motor skills and reacting to his environment differently, and with more intention.  As a newborn, his movements were jerky and random - but over the past few weeks, we've watched him discover his hands as tools.  While not fully articulate, he is developing dexterity that allows him to accomplish simple things - like stuffing a fuzzy toy into his mouth.  A month ago, he'd be pleased to have the toy in his mouth, but didn't show any inclination or understanding of how he might arrange for that to happen, outside of registering his complaint with the management, of course. 

His mouth has also changed.  A few weeks ago, he really enjoyed feeling different things with his mouth.  That seemed to be a precursor to the early stages of teething.  His mouth still is one of his primary sources of information, but it has developed demands of it's own.  His efforts to ease the discomfort in his gums, he's developed a new skill  He's begun to chew things now. Sophie the Giraffe is a favorite. 

His hair has now come in fully, and even the bald spot on the back of his head isn't truly bald.  I miss his soft infant scalp, as it was particularly nice to nuzzle him on the top of his head.  Now you get hairs up your nose.  He's getting a little bit of cradle-cap too, which means we should probably start bathing him more often.  The daily bath routine at bedtime was giving him dry skin, so we dropped back to two baths a week.  That resolved the skin issues, so hopefully we can strike a balance that will keep the cradle-cap to a minimum.

As he's getting bigger, he's getting stronger.  He can lift and hold his head up for extended tummy-time - and has started to push up on his arms too.  Gramps and Granma think he'll be crawling in another month.  He's also able to hold himself in an upright seated position for a few seconds and can hold his weight on his legs, if you hold him under the arms for balance.  All of that combined strength-training means that for increasing lengths of time, Owen now has a visible neck.  It's like being beamed right in the eye with a ray of cute.  His cheeks, no longer supported by his chest, wobble slightly as his smile cracks through his usual pensive expression.  He's laughing a lot more now.  And not just the strange Kraken noise of excitement, but peals of laughter, shrieks of joy and sly chuckles.

Preparations for a big adventure were also on the forefront.  We decided to take Owen to France for his first Christmas, to visit the Jones grandparents in the ancient Roman town of Orange de Valcluse.  On the plus side, infants fly for free until they are 2 years old.  On the down side, infants now require passports in order to travel internationally. Mom managed to gather all of the pertinent information and forms while simultaneously taking care of Owen full-time and working part-time too.  We all went for an in-person visit to the Post Office, where we filled out additional paperwork and supplied them with photos that showed Owen giving his best thug-life pose.  We triple checked the documents, and crossed our fingers that the government would process the application in time for our trip.  Two weeks later, the freshly minted passport arrived. Unfortunately, it arrived with a typo.  "Owen Nataniel Makoa Jones".  So, Mom got to make an in-person trip to the Federal building in order to get the correct spelling in place.  Passport in hand, Owen was equipped to be a world-traveler.

And travel we did!  Owen's first flight was a redeye flight from LAX to Paris on Air France.  We lucked out and got the bulkhead seat, complete with a bassinet.  The crew sized him up as a potential long-term client, and showered him with gifts, including a teething cloth a plush toy cat.  He snacked quietly on the ascent after a bit of fussing with the seatbelts (he hates all forms of restraint).  Then we tucked him into his bassinet and he slept for the duration of the flight.  Not a peep.  He had breakfast while we landed, and was equally well behaved on the short jaunt from Paris to Marseilles.  We were on the receiving end of a lot of impressed looks from other passengers, as not all of the children on the trip showed such a natural aptitude for the jet-set lifestyle.