Milestones

Prior to having Elsa 5 weeks ago, I'd always kind of secretly scoffed at the whole milestone thing and thought it was kind of silly that parents would worry about their kids and whether they were hitting milestones at the proper times and all that went with it.  In my mind, I always reasoned that "every child is different and will hit the milestones on their own time".  Which of course it true, but I didn't understand the worrying about it part.  Of course, when I thought of milestones I'd only think of the big ones - rolling over, sitting up, crawling, and walking.  I didn't realize that there are SO MANY!!

So about a week ago, when Elsa was 4 weeks old, I started worrying about whether she was developing like she should be (I just don't know what babies do and learn at different times so wanted to know that Elsa was normal).  I now completely understand the worrying part!  For me right now, we know that Elsa is in good health and physically she's doing well according to her doctor, but we can't know whether she's all normal mentally and socially and all those other measures!  So I started wondering, when should a baby be smiling?  What's the acceptable age range for that to start?  I hear of some babies smiling really early but what's too late?  Elsa makes little smiley looks sometimes but not in response to anything, it's just when she's making various faces - so I was getting worried that she wasn't developing properly maybe.  (My pediatrician, when we were discussing vaccinations and autism and such, told me that kids who are eventually diagnosed with autism usually showed signs early on, such as not smiling - hence me really really wanting Elsa to start smiling!)  So I googled milestones and found THIS SITE which I like because it gives a big long list and the target ages that things should ideally happen at.

Usually when I do one of my worrying google searches, I actually end up freaking myself out more - which Jody hates!  But this is one time that it has made me feel better.  I've gone through the list and been mentally checking off the things she's hit or partially hit and from what I see so far, my little girl is normal and pretty much on track!  Yay!!!  Of course, there are a couple things I've noted to pay more attention to - for example, grasping.  It says that between 4 and 6 weeks babies should be able to grasp an object when their fingers are pried open and they drop it quickly after.  I guess technically Elsa has done this, but maybe just about 5 times or so and usually she doesn't grasp what I try to put in her hand.  Her little fingers are really hard to pry apart too, which may partially explain that!  Anyway though, I want to work with her more on opening her fingers and putting something in them to get her practicing her grasping!  I also see some things coming up on the immediate age horizon and know to look for them, and to try to help her in developing some of these little skills.

And as for smiling, the website says that should be between 6 weeks and 3 months, so that calmed me down a little.  Of course, my pediatrician said "if she's not smiling by 2 months then let me know, there may be a problem" - that so freaks me out so I want Elsa to be smiling in the next three weeks, oh I so hope she does cause then I'll feel so much more relaxed!!  In the last two to three days, when she's in a good mood and I have her laying on her back and am doing baby bicycles with her little legs and talking excitedly to her about it, she looks like she's smiling and happy but it's not clear enough that it's a real smile, but it still makes me so excited to see it!  So here's to hoping and cheering for Elsa to smile soon for mommy!!!  :)

I will say that her neck is surprisingly strong!!  I've even noticed such a difference over the past week, it's so cool to really notice it!  And her little legs are really strong, too, both when she pushes out with them against us, or when we hold her up to "stand" and she presses her little legs down so strongly!  And over the past 3-4 days, she's a couple times followed a toy from one side of her head to the other side - turning her head to follow it (they were toys with sounds, and she definitely doesn't usually do it but the fact that a couple times she has made me so happy!)!  Anyway, it's so super cool to see that she's so far on track!!!  I honestly don't need her to do anything early - I just want her to be in the normal range of things so I don't worry, and beyond that I just want her to be a happy baby and I'll be a happy mommy!

Here's a photo from this past Monday, Elsa's 1-month birthday!!  She's so cute!!!