6 mos.

Finn is six months old today. It's hard to believe that it's been half a year since that late May afternoon when we drove, white-faced and full of trepidation, to the hospital and to an uncertain future. At the same time, it's hard to imagine a time when Finn was not here in our lives. Just like it's hard to imagine a time when we slept in the same bed, and I slept for more than four hours in a row.

My expectations of Finn are that he Be Finn. I don't think of him as a preemie, nor do I think of him as a 6-monther. He's himself, and he will do what he does, when he does it. Every once in a while I have a twinge of worry for his development, but it's easily overcome by his responsive smiles. He is what he is, from day to day, week to week, and month to month. I talk to him, read to him, show him things, walk him around, and I watch him. I don't know what babies do; I don't know what they are supposed to do at certain ages, so I am not putting mental pressure on myself or on him to excel or catch up to anything. I want him to grow, eat, poop, pee, and be content. He changes gradually, from day to day, but it has to accumulate for us to notice a difference, and one day, I see that he really is trying to grab for objects, or I note that he is following Pete with his eyes as Pete walks around the house.

I looked at the infant development chart in our baby book for the first time in a couple of months, and just like it was the last time I consulted it, Finn is all over the place.

The chart I have lists "Master Skills," which I find amusing when applied to a baby.
He's over the First Month skills, so I will leave them out. For the Second Month, his Master Skill is to "visually connect to parents." Got it. Third Month: Hand Play. I am not quite sure what that means. He has just started to put his hands together and wring them like a nervous old lady, if that is what they are getting at, and he loves to jam them into his mouth. Fourth Month: Displays accurate visual tracking. Got it. Fifth Month: Reaches accurately. Uh, still working on that one, but he's getting better. Sixth Month: Sits. No way. I sit him up sometimes now to play, but there's no way he could sit on his own yet.

For "Gross Motor Skills, " I can skip Month One and Month Two.

Month Three: stretches limbs all the way out, cycles and makes freestyle movements; holds head higher than bottom, searches; briefly bears weight on legs; holds head steady when held; rolls from back to side.

Finn's head is very steady, and he has almost no troubles with control. He will roll onto his side sometimes as well. He has been good with both of these skills for quite a while. He also enjoys standing on our laps and bouncing, which he has also done for some time. The bouncing continues to get more vigorous, and he's getting stronger at standing.

Fourth Month: Stands supported, Sits propped on arms, lifts head 90 degrees, scans 180 degrees, rests on elbows, rolls from tummy to side.

Finn hates being on his tummy unless he is sleeping on someone's chest. He does lift his head, but he's not quite there with the rest of that list.

Fifth Month: sits propped on floor and with pillow in high chair; stands, holds on only for balance; rolls from tummy to back; rocks on tummy--airplanes; assumes push-up position; wiggles a few feet forward; cranes neck forward to see; possibly grabs toes.

Finn does not know that he has toes. I have been showing them to him, though, and he sees them. He'll figure it out.

Sixth Month: sits briefly by self; sits in high chair; stands briefly while leaning on furniture; rolls over both ways; digs in with toes and hands to move toward toy.

Nope.

Hand skills:
For Month Three, he is supposed to make swiping reaches, which he does; hold and shake a rattle, which he does if I hand it to him. He only holds things for brief periods, having only recently figured out that he has hands. He is getting better at his aim, but it's still hit or miss.

Language and Social Skills:
He has figured out screeching and is starting to make different sounds and repeat them. I can't tell if he's laughing, but sometimes it seems like it. He's drooling, so there are definitely bubbles. His depth perception is on, and he tracks and gazes accurately. He turns his head toward sounds more often than not and watches our mouths.

Cognitive Skills:
He's getting the cause and effect and seems to expect reactions from us sometimes.

What Babies Like:
He loves to watch faces, hear repeated noises, stand and bounce, look around him, watch lights, look at pictures, be carried on the hip or in a carrier, have a dry diaper, hear music and see Pete playing the guitar, make noise. He's all over the map on development, but he fits in best in the three to four month area.

What we have here is a baby who's figuring it out as he goes along.

Same as his parents.