Nina’s got a new trick since yesterday: blowing “raspberries,” pursing her lips and saying something kind of like “boooo.” I’m not sure why she’s doing this, but she loves it and does it constantly. It’s hilarious, and I’ve unfortunately had no luck capturing it on video. I’ll keep trying!

Nina turns four months today. This is a picture of her playing on the floor — one of her favorite activities, along with rolling over and over, standing up on her legs (with assistance), watching things happen in the kitchen, looking at trees and being lifted up into the “Super Nina” pose. That last one always gets her giggling. She also very much enjoys playing in the bed with her Dad when he gets up in the morning. She’s babbling quite a bit, and I swore today she said “Yeah!” when I asked her if she was hungry.

Nina had a doctor’s appointment yesterday, and she now weights 16 pounds, 7 ounces, which the doctor said is “literally off the charts.” So Nina is very healthy. The doctor seemed surprised at my ability to supply enough breast milk for this kind of growth. Not to be crass, but I’m quite pleased that these little 34B’s can keep up with the best of them.

Nina is sleeping through the night from about 8:30 to 6:30, although last night she awoke for a rare middle-of-the-night feeding. Maybe it’s a growth spurt. She’s also learning to take 3 good crib naps a day. I’ve discovered that nursing her before she goes down for a nap helps a lot (thanks for the advice, Grandmama). She celebrated her birthday by taking three naps of nearly an hour each. And this evening she has “Daddy Nite” while I’m at my class.

Now that I’m not working, I’m engaging in some creative pursuits. John’s encouraged me to try my hand at comics. This is my first attempt. I actually drew this one back in June, but I didn’t ink it until yesterday. Rather than comics, what I really want to do is write and illustrate a children’s book. I’m going to take an evening class on this subject at SVA, starting later this month. And this weekend, I’m going to take Nina to the Brooklyn Book Festival to hear a reading by Mo Willems, whose books I love.

From the Atlanta-Journal Constitution, via the kitchen of Connie Parker, a delicious and easy recipe. I’m doing more cooking now that I’m home, and it’s getting easier the more I do. My mom is a great cook and has a knack for making food that’s healthy as well as tasty. This was one of her recommendations and I wholeheartedly second it.

Nina’s had a lot going on in recent weeks. Last weekend, she took a trip to East Hampton with Mama and Dad. Here she is in the sundress she wore for the ride out. Later, while Daddy went swimming in the cold bay, Nina and I enjoyed the breeze on the beach. Nina liked lying on a towel, wrapped in a blanket. She did not like having her toes dipped in the water. In addition to sunbathing on the beach, we visited Grandma on the way out and back, and went to see friends on the North Fork: a colleague of John’s, his wife, their flock of chickens — Nina had a conversation with a crowing rooster — and their two children, who are delightful little geniuses. Being out there made me want to move to a small town. On the way home from the Hamptons, we also stopped by the Sullivan’s, had tomato and dill sandwiches and got sunburnt (not Nina, who was inside on her playmat while Mom and Dad baked on the porch).

There have been other important developments in Nina’s little life over the past couple weeks: First of all, Mama lost her job three days after returning to work from maternity leave, meaning that she’s now able to spend all the time she wants with Nina. Nina celebrated this fact by turning over from back to front on Aug. 31 (the final flourish goes out to the folks who fired mommy). She now does this regularly (the flip, sans flourish), but she seems to have forgotten how to flip from back to front. Once she gets onto her tummy, she becomes intent on trying to crawl and starts straining and groaning like someone lifting a piano. She typcially manages to get her bottom into the air, but until the tummy can fully clear the ground she’s obviously not going anywhere. So we’ve got some time until she’s self-propelled. At least a few more months, I hope!

Other activities of late are a Japanese-language “Mommy and Me” class that we’ve begun attending in the East Village at a place called “Nihongo de Asobo”. We went for the first time yesterday, and Nina seemed to love it. The teacher was very animated, singing lots of songs that were new to Mama as well. We’ve also begun developing Nina’s ability to nap in her crib. A summer spent taking walks with Mama and Daddy around Brooklyn Heights has produced a baby that loves to sleep outside in a moving stroller and hates to be confined to a bed during the day. This won’t do once the weather’s colder, so our nanny and I are having to train her. This is rather unpleasant work that requires letting Nina do a lot of crying as we encourage her put herself to sleep. Our wonderful nanny (along with some encouraging words from Mama friend Yishane) has been a real source of support in this effort — I would have given up had it been me alone. Now, after just three days, Nina is taking a morning crib nap with relative ease. I worried about traumatizing her or losing her trust (”I cry but Mommy doesn’t come!”), but I realize that the older she gets, the more difficult it will become to change her habits. I’ve also noticed that having a regularly scheduled nap in the crib seems to allow her a deeper sleep, and thus results in less fussiness. So I think Nina will be grateful to us in the long run…

I popped into the doctor’s office today to have her check out a little dry spot on Nina’s leg (it’s nothing) and - more importantly - to have her weighed. I was eager to see how much she’s grown. She’s now 15 lbs 6 oz and is 25.5 inches long. That means that in less than two months, she’s gained almost four pounds and grown about 3 inches. This solves the mystery of why she’s been busting out of some of her onesies. Mama needs to do some Fall clothes shopping!

We have a lot of nicknames for Miss Nina, one of them being Nina Bee. I think this springs from my intention to one day dress Nina up in a bumble bee suit. She’s also somewhat bee-like insofar as she’s in constant motion, at least when she’s awake. Nina is not a baby that likes to sit or lie still. She also has many, many other nicknames. I assume and hope that the bulk of these will be retired from regular use before she’s old enough to experience embarrassment. But lest we ever forget, here is a list of the standouts: Tummicle, Bellicle, Cuddler, Cuddly Buddler, C. Buds, Billiken, Buddles, Buddlestrum, Happy Bapperson, Baps, Miss Bapperson, Miss Babyhead, Snapperson, Biner, Binerson, and her Daddy’s favorite, for use when she’s traveling down South, Mary Binerson.