So here I go, writing a few things down. This is Tera at exactly 6 months old:
And this is Tera a few days later when Barry took Canon to the lake for the weekend, leaving me with a few extra minutes to get some pictures of her in something more than a onesie or pj's. They're not great . . . definitely not as good as Canon's six-month pictures in the rocking chair on the porch . . . but they're something to be proud of.
And the feet that have been so famous since her first day of life:
After waking up a bit, we tried to take a few more, but with no great success.
Now on to what I really want to remember - what is Tera doing?
Tera has been smiling for weeks. She's a pretty easy audience. We can do the least funny thing you've ever seen, and she'll beam as if it's the best show she's experienced to date. At a birthday party this weekend, some friends and I began questioning when babies start to laugh. Tera caught some of our conversation apparently because, later that day, she gave her first little chuckle. Ever since then, she's been "talking" up a storm and smiling just as easily as ever.
As I've mentioned in an earlier post, Tera rolled over from stomach to back only a few weeks after coming home (she's so strong!), and she's done this a few more times since then. She continues to show her endurable strength as she pushes up on her arms and turns her head from side to side. Her head control is so good, in fact, that I am able to face her forward in the Baby Bjorn without too much trouble. We took her to her first high school football game this weekend (Daleville v. Slocomb), and she loved watching the cheerleaders and the fans (I'm not quite tall enough to help her see the actual game!).
At her six month check-up earlier this week, the pediatrician was very impressed with her development. She weighs 13 pounds 1 ounce and is 24 3/4 inches long. While her size is not quite on the charts for a six month old (she's about at the 50 percentile for a three-month-old though!), her development seems to be beyond what her pediatrician was expecting. When I told her of her rolling over and giggling, the doctor said that was more than she was expecting. When she flipped Tera over on her tummy to see what she could do, the pediatrician immediately extended her hands to keep Tera from rolling right off the table. She was so impressed which, of course, made me feel so much better. Lately, Barry and I have been worrying that Tera isn't growing like she should. Even though others say that they can tell she is getting bigger, it's hard to see from one day to the next. Her pediatrician actually showed me on the chart that Tera's weight gets closer and closer to the 6-month curve with every visit that she makes to the doctor. This is encouraging. Not only is she growing, but she's growing at a faster rate than I had originally anticipated.
As for me, I've quit thinking about Tera in terms of "catching up." Yes, she's six months old, but I think of the "start of life" in a different way now, I guess. For me, life used to start at someone's birthday. Since Tera was born, however, I've started basing the beginning of life at conception. Don't get me wrong . . . I've always believed that life starts at conception, but maybe what I'm trying to say is that I now think of Development as something that starts with conception. Even as embryos, these little nuggets are growing new parts and learning to do new things. Tera did pretty much the same as every other baby, just in a different environment. Though she's been a part of our world for six months, she's still a Newby in the Baby World. It's difficult not to compare her to other babies who were born around her due date. They are usually bigger than she is which, of course, makes me uneasy at first. But I have to remember - and friends constantly remind me of this - that her circumstances are different. And though we will never use that as an excuse for her, we can be proud that despite her circumstances, she's more than we could have ever hoped for.
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