"did he get a haircut?"

ben asked me this upon our return last night. (and for the record, i have not cut a single hair on milo's head. the abundance of milo's dark hair that was present when he was first born has now surrendered to this light peachy blond fuzz with the exception of the lone spurt of dark hair at the nape of his neck. yup, our son sports an all natural rat-tail/mullet.)

milo and i have been visiting my folks in chicago this past week. we left on monday, but just barely, what with the freezing rain and milo's first viral infection: a surplus of boogers accompanied by a nasty sounding cough, but the dr. assured us that his lungs were clear and crackle free, so it definitely wasn't pneumonia. he handled being sick a lot better than i expected, although maybe this just wasn't that bad of a cold? he was certainly fussier than usual, but even still, he maintained his happy, easy-going ways.

he's definitely laughing a lot more often, although it still takes a good deal more than a tickling touch. he's also getting very talkative. all sorts of consonant and vowel combinations are pouring from his little lips, thought none of it discernible as of yet, but we'll get there.

ben is also certain that milo grew while we were gone, both in size and weight... it's very possible, but hard to notice when i'm with him every.single.day.

we tried feeding milo rice cereal after our pediatrician gave us the okay at his 4 month well-baby visit, but he didn't seem to enthused about it, so i figured we'd try again after i got back from chicago. i suppose we're back, so now's the time to start trying it again?

i also found out from our pedi that i need to give him more tummy time. apparently 15 minutes at 3-4 times a week isn't enough, and i should be getting milo on his tummy at least twice every day (although he didn't say whether 15 minutes was substantial enough per day, or if i needed to up that count too)... it's tricky when milo doesn't seem to be a huge fan of tummy time on his own, and as much as i love him, laying on the floor with him to keep him entertained only works for so long before i feel the itch to move...

he's perfectly content (for the most part) in his johnny-jumper, though. my brother has commented how his thighs are comparable to those of the michelin tire-man, and it doesn't feel too far from the truth. this kid has ginormous thighs... it's no wonder he loves to bounce.

i still have not hung my homemade owl mobile for milo yet.... it's all done except i need to figure out how to attach it to an s-hook that i have which will hang from another hook from the ceiling so that it's balanced and hangs properly. considering i have yet to get my harvard engineering degree (not to mention the million other things i aim to get done in a day) it may take a little longer than anticipated. (i can only hope i manage to figure it out while he's still sleeping in a crib.)