One month adjusted

This is where the premature thing gets confusing for me, the adjusted age. If Ava were to have been born on her due date, she would be 1 month old today although her chronological age is almost 4 months old. So why is this important? Her milestones.

When Sophia was born, I looked forward to her first smile, her first laugh, rolling over, sitting up. It never crossed my mind that Sophia wouldn't do these things. If anything, it was interesting to keep track of these firsts to see where she fell in the normal range. For Ava, it's the anticipation and the fear that she won't do these things. This started a few weeks ago when the nurse came for her visit and asked if Ava had made eye contact. I thought maybe she was making eye contact, but if you know how newborn eyes are, it's rare they are looking in the same direction, let alone focusing on anything. And then at her 3 month well baby check the pediatrician asked the same question. So my obsessiveness kicked in and for the next week I stared and stared into Ava's eyes, willing her to look at me and to hold the gaze. Well, she is and she did and with a huge sigh of relief I can mark this off my list. Next came the first smile, about 2 weeks ago. She smiled at Sophia first, and then the next day smiled at me and Rick and then her smiles became a little stingy until a few days ago when she started smiling more. Last night she smiled and laughed! I looked up Sophia's first smile and Ava actually smiled a few days before Sophia first smiled. Again, wheww.

So as of now, Ava is meeting her milestones according to her adjusted age. Actually, I think she's ahead of her adjusted age in some aspects. She's been holding her head up steady for quite a while. She's been following objects. She rolls from her side to her back. These are things a 2 month old are expected to do. I'm writing this down because next month comes with another set of objectives--er, milestones--and I'll most likely have the same anxiety. And the month after that, and the month after that, and...