to our big girl 4 month old...

today is the 12th, which makes you officially 4 months old today. and what a fun 4 month old you are. you are so busy looking at everything, taking EVERYTHING in. your papa calls you a "hoot owl" because of the way you move your head back and forth to look around. you do your hoot owl impression most often when you are starting to get tired. speaking of tired, you still like to be swaddled when you sleep but are slowly starting to be able to sleep with your arms free. your sleep at night is hit and miss....you either are up every couple of hours, or you sleep for about 8 hours straight.
being 4 months old now, there are so many things that you seem to enjoy. you like taking your saturday morning walks with papa to the bagel shop, and you show your enthusiasm for these by sleeping for several hours once you get home. you also like to come into mommy and papa's bed on the weekends in the morning when you wake up. we all laugh and talk and have a good old time. you still like that birdie friend, but you have also developed a fond appreciation for a small stuffed monkey, we call him your "monkey guy". you like him so much that you try to gnaw his nose or hands off every chance you get. you do this to almost anything lately, including mommy's shoulder and any burp cloth in sight. you still love to chew on your hands and have taken to sucking/chewing on your two fingers.
you can hold your head and chest up high when you are on your tummy, so you don't mind tummy time as much anymore. you seem to like to do this best when you can look at yourself in a mirror. you have also started to roll onto your side every once in a while. you are able to reach for things and grab them with impressive skill, and you seem to delight in making noises with your rattles and toys.
you still love your baths and splash like crazy. you like to have your own washcloth to play with (chew on) and you also like to chase the ducky around the tub.
and boy oh boy do you like to talk!! your latest noises sound more like shrieks, and you will make them for anyone who wants to listen. you will talk to mommy and papa but you also enjoy talking to yourself when you are playing. you yell and scream and wiggle your tongue around and crack yourself up. you make so many other sounds too, and now can make a "da" sound in addition to the "ma" sound mommy likes to hear so much. you also laugh out loud, which is hilarious. you laugh at mommy and papa doing silly things like singing Michael Jackson. you love to be sung to, including when papa makes up his own songs and when mommy sings the color song or I've Been Working on the Railroad. you will sit and look at books with mommy for a while, and lately you have been trying to hold the book and turn the pages by yourself. you seem to like the "stinky face" book that grandma joan got you for christmas.
but the thing you seem to love most of all lately is to watch mommy and papa eat food. when we sit you in your bumbo at dinner while we eat, you practically fall out of the chair from leaning over to try to get a good look at papa's plate. and what we love most of all is our baby greta, who is quickly becoming not such a baby anymore. every new day brings something more that you have learned or mastered....which is so exciting but which always makes mommy cry because her baby is getting so big.