Edward weighed in at 14 lbs. 12 oz. at his four-month check-up yesterday. That's the 50th percentile for weight. Pretty good for a little guy who started out in about the 3rd percentile because of being born early. His length is up to 24 1/4 inches, which is the 25th percentile. All in all an excellent report. The doctor said she had "nothing but compliments" for John and me, that we're doing well and helping Edward to thrive.

The next big step will be introducing some rice cereal. We haven't been to the store yet to buy any, but will give it a try sometime soon. The instructions are to try it when he's hungry and when we have plenty of time. I think we also will need to plan a post-meal bath! Edward is already a messy eater, slurping and drooling his milk. Cereal will be a new horizon--possibly video-worthy, though I'm not sure we'll have enough hands for the feeding and the camera work. We'll see.

We asked about sunscreen, now that it's staying warm and we expect to spend more time outside. Usually they don't recommend sunscreen for babies under six months old, but she looked at John and me, looked back at Edward and said, "Oh yeah, he'll need protection so go ahead and use sunscreen." Also hats and light cotton layers. Unfortunately for Edward, pigment is not among our genetic gifts to him.

He screamed through his shots again but this time I was better prepared. I had him wearing a little shorts romper so I didn't have to get him dressed after the shots and I had asked if I could stay in the examining room long enough to feed him afterward. Nursing calmed him down and he ended up sleeping most of the rest of the afternoon. He slept a lot at daycare today and this afternoon at home. This was good for me because I've picked up a cold and wasn't feeling terribly energetic today. We both had good naps this afternoon.

He was very alert when John got home from work and they had a nice "chat" with Edward making lots of babbling sounds and John answering back with what he guessed were the appropriate responses to what Edward might be saying.

Not much time or energy for photo sessions lately, but we'll try to get some new ones posted by this weekend.