Today Tricia is three months old. Three months old! Where has the time gone? How do I slow it down? Why is my brand new baby already smiling and cooing and holding her head up and trying to roll over and all kinds of other things that newborns do not do? SOMEONE, MAKE IT STOP!!

In all seriousness, I’m amazed by how fast this has gone. I didn’t realize until a couple of weeks ago that it’s actually time (and has been time for a while now) for Tricia to start having “floor time.” It just didn’t occur to me since she’s a newborn, at least in my head.

I’m further amazed by how different my feelings about her “milestones” are. With Matt, I was practically counting down ’til the next “big” event. “Okay, he’s doing this. Next, will be that, and I can’t wait!!” With Lenna, it was more, “Wow! Lenna’s doing this! Good for her!”

With Tricia, it’s been very bittersweet to watch her learn new things. On the one hand, I’m happy and glad that she is developing normally. I’m enjoying watching this kid figure things out. (Currently, she’s mastering hand and foot control. It’s adorable, I tell you.)

On the other hand, I feel much more keenly the passage of her babyhood than I did with the other two. Every new “first” for her breaks my heart a little more. This tiny little person isn’t going to stay a tiny little person for all that long, and I feel like it’s going entirely too fast for me to enjoy it as thoroughly as I would like. (This explains, perhaps, why there are dozens of photos of her just lying on a pillow on my PC.)

At any rate, isn’t she the biggest newborn you’ve ever seen? And have you ever seen a newborn with this kind of head control? Amazing, innit? (And that little rat holding that amazing newborn is my amazing preschooler. :nod:)