small steps

My little guy will be 4 months old tomorrow.  That's a third of a year! How did that happen?  I am having a little inner battle, which I am sure is quite normal.  I have friends having babies and I find that I am not as excited to hang out and see their new babies because I know that even the ones months younger than my Liam, will more than likely be reaching developmental milestones a lot quicker than my guy and that makes me just feel....weird.  I want to hang out and I will.  Perhaps it is human nature to compare things, people.  But I really want to concentrate on focusing on the positive and taking things a day at a time. So on that note, today Liam did something new!
To help him learn to roll over, I put him on his back and start to lead him to the side by pulling slightly behind his knee and bringing it over.  When I did this last week with him, his arm would stay stuck under his torso, but today.....he was able to pull it out from under him, several times!  These little things seem big.  And it's strange to be so totally conscious of every thing rather than just playing with my baby.  But, it is what it is. His leg and neck strength seems to be better in some positions than in others.  When I hold him facing me, he will push out from me and his head is up and strong, but when he is sitting in my lap facing out, he slumps it a lot. Our little guy is laughing more, with direct stimulation, asi que econtramos donde le da cosquilla. We found his tickle spots!
As for Lupe, this last week she surprised us with two things she seems to have learned on her own.  She spells her name "L.U.P.E." ( I am so certain she will be an early reader).  And she asked me if I wanted Ariel the mermaid's phone number and then said  my phone number (missing one # only). It's true, they are sponges.
"By the age of three, the toddler's brain has formed about 1,000 trillion pathways or synapses ­ about twice as many as his mom or dad have. The toddler's brain is super dense and primed for learning. When a pathway is used repeatedly, it becomes permanent; a pathway used infrequently is lost. Children whose parents speak, read and play with them during these early years have more highly developed brains with better language and learning skills.
Around age three, research indicates a growth spurt in a toddler's head circumference and a dramatic increase in activity in the two major language regions of the brain. At the same time, a toddler's vocabulary surges from about 900 words to around 3,000 words before age five." http://www.growupreading.org/toddlers/index.php?section=210
This is my update for now, it has been a long day and I am going to try and actually go to bed early, though it is so nice to have some mellow time without the kids!