My Happy Baby

Sophia did not smile early. I read and read about people's babies smiling at them at 6 weeks and how their two month olds greeted them with smiles every morning. I was sad. I felt like I must be doing something wrong or that I was a bad mom. She didn't smile. We got a few fleeting ones here and there, but they were random and never directed at us. She didn't really interact with us much at all unless she was nuzzling so that I would feed her. She reacted to toys sometimes, but didn't seem to care that much about people.

We went to her four month appointment and expressed our concerns to her pediatrician. My pediatrician husband started looking at her and saying things like, "Please don't be autistic." (Not that we would love her any less or that she showed any other signs. He even admitted then that he was over analyzing and that such delays can be perfectly normal and not mean anything.).

Two days after the appointment, a light went on. She was smiling at us. She was happy when we walked into the room. She lit up at the dog more than anything, but I try not to take that personally. He is a pretty funny-looking dog. Then began the laughs. She laughs she squeals. She is a happy baby. Two months later, I know something is wrong when she doesn't smile. At her six month appointment, her doctor marveled at how she was a completely different baby.

We loved her through it all, even when I spent day after day, just trying to stop her from crying or get her to sleep. From the day she was born, people have commented on how her big wide eyes were always checking things out. It turns out that she just took a little extra time to warm up. Maybe she just thought we were strange that whole time and finally figured out that we weren't that bad and really did try hard and love her, so she gave us a chance. Maybe they put something in the four month vaccines.

Whatever it was, we are thankful, because being a mom is so much fun now. I am so incredibly grateful to spend my days with her. DH comes home a little faster and makes it home for lunch more often and I fall in love all over again when I see him melt when she smiles at him. I know there will be many questions and difficult days ahead, but for right now, life is pretty good.