We have reached the milestone 3 months. The month in which your newborn is now interacting, playing, talking and doing all the things that make your heart melt. It is wonderful to have successfully reached this stage and I am overjoyed at being able to experience it. With that being said it has also been an eye-opening experience.
Bug is most definitely different then Boo. With Boo at this point we were still in the NICU, waiting for that amazing moment in which he’d make that eventful turn for the better and be headed on his way home. I do believe we were just about to turn that corner this very week in his timeline. Trying to get Boo to latch on, if not on the breast then at least, on the bottle and attempting to wean him from the Ventilator. As for Bug, well, he’s starting to break his first tooth. Bug is also communicating with all the fun rolling “r” noises and “ah-Dah” sounds. He is also laughing and entertaining himself each time he wakes from sleep. He is communicating with his mobiles and stuffed friends. Bug is 100% on target in terms of his developmental milestones if not a bit ahead. It is just such a difference and so much a wonder to experience.
As many of you may well know, Bug is as much a miracle baby as Boo. Bug was the baby we were never supposed to have. The baby that was a mere hope and prayer after being told we wouldn’t be able to have more children. That dream changed as the prognosis of MTHFR changed and, alas, here we have our Bug.
With all the goodness of Bug there is also the challenges of an “almost” full term baby that we didn’t face with Boo. Boo was on a schedule when he came home from the hospital. 3, 6, 9, 12, the magic hours of eat, play, sleep. Bug, not so much. He’s on the “On Demand” schedule which changes from day-to-day. Luckily we are now at the “sleep through the night” point in his ever developing schedule, at least this week. But then again, we are also experiencing the “3-month growth spurt” and the premature tooth breaking. All of which we never had with Boo.
With Boo, when he came home, it was an Oxygen tank and Apnea monitor following us around wherever we went, what I affectionately called, “my triplets”. We also had the, what seemed like, hourly therapy sessions in which we were either going to or having come to us. It was working on every sense of sensory development to make sure there would be no delays.
When talking with a girlfriend today she had asked what it was like now with an “almost” full term baby. Upon telling her the very things I mention here, she stated that I was very much taking on a strong parenting teacher role that was now innate within me. As a result of having to aid Boo with every stage of development, she believed that Bug was at the advantage because my experience with Boo would have me naturally doing the same developmental style of teaching with Bug. I wonder, is she correct? Yes, I think she is. I find myself practicing the same therapy principals physically with Bug, talking to him the same way I did with Boo and playing with him the same way without realizing I am doing it.
No matter how one looks at it, I had many blessings in disguise with Boo. He really was my teacher as much as I was his. He taught me to be the best parent I could be. Boo taught me that being involved with my child was most important and how being in tune resulted in little successes. How awesome to realize that someone so little can play such a powerful role.
In the NICU someone gave us a onesie that said “Tiny but Mighty”. Truly, my Littlest Peanut was the mightiest, more so than I had realized he would ever be.
