Four Month Milestones

We just celebrated Enoch's four month birthday this Saturday. In all truthfulness we didn't really celebrate with a cake or balloons or anything spectacular, but there were a few milestones that I felt were blog-worthy. :) First though, here are some pictures of Enoch at four months:

Rocking with Mommy

Playing with Daddy

First of all, Enoch got his first tooth on his four month birthday. It is on the bottom and if you look at him, it's his right center tooth. It isn't poking up enough to get a great picture yet, but it is certainly there and poking up enough to have a sharp edge against my finger when he gnaws on it... ouch! This definitely explains so much about the past week, and possibly the past month at that (waking up at night, being fussier at times, drooling, trying to eat anything he can grab, etc.). It seems like the pain with that tooth is not over yet though because even tonight he was acting like it hurt. (Maybe the one beside it is also coming in? I can't tell quite yet.)

This was my best attempt at a picture..

Then, in order to celebrate his four month birthday, we gave Enoch his first baby oatmeal. I was surprised at how good he did, considering that he has never used a spoon before, but I will say that out of 1 tablespoon that I prepared, he maybe got 1 teaspoon down... ha! One of my good girlfriends recommended acting out what you want the baby to do when you teach them to eat (i.e. open your mouth and say "ahh" when you want them to take a bite) so that they can mimic you, and I think that really helped Enoch. I felt a little ridiculous saying "ahh" and mimicking chewing saying "num, num, num" but little man was responsive, so it was worth it in my book. Overall, I think the chewing and swallowing parts of eating are the hardest for him to grasp right now. We let him eat some more oatmeal this morning and evening as well, and he did about the same, although he is getting much better at getting the oatmeal off of the spoon (a very important part of eating with a spoon, right?).

Now if any of you have seen Enoch recently, you might be thinking that the boy doesn't really need any supplementary food- the breastmilk has kept him quite healthy. Well, I'd agree, but our doctor actually recommended starting oatmeal or rice cereal at four months so that he would learn how to eat off of a spoon. She said it was important to have that skill mastered before six months when he really will need the supplementary food (pureed veggies and fruits).

Big boy eating from a spoon!

Finally, Enoch also attended his first funeral on Saturday. One of our sweet older friends from church lost her husband this past week. They had been married over 50 years (dating over 60), and so it was a bittersweet loss for her. Every testimony that we heard at the funeral and the lunch preceding it was about her husband's faithfulness in a few key areas: knowing/preaching the Word of God, encouraging everyone he met with the truth from the Word, and loving others deeply. May it be true of all of us who would call ourselves followers of Jesus.

Hugh and I were glad and humbled to be there, to serve alongside other members of the body in loving our friend, and to see the hope she had- that though her husband was no longer alive in the flesh, she had confident hope in her Redeemer Jesus...

³ Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, ⁴ to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, ⁵ who by God's power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. ⁶ In this you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials, ⁷ so that the tested genuineness of your faith—more precious than gold that perishes though it is tested by fire—may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ. ⁸Though you have not seen him, you love him. Though you do not now see him, you believe in him and rejoice with joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory, ⁹ obtaining the outcome of your faith, the salvation of your souls.

(1 Peter 1:3-9)