Can she really be three months old?

Yep, it's true. Alyssa turned three months old yesterday. I just love this age. She's cooing like a crazy woman. I can be in the worst mood ever and she flashes me one of those smiles, throws in a big enthusiastic gaaaaaaaaaaaah and I'm just falling all over myself. We have long conversations now. I just wish I knew what she was saying.

She still seems so small to me, which I am truly grateful for. Amanda flew through the tiny baby stage in about a minute and a half, I think. Alyssa can still wear most of her size 0 – 3 months clothes and I love that. At Alyssa's last appointment, her doctor made a point of telling me several times that she is average. (She doesn't have kids or she would know better than to tell a mother that her child is average. Average? Are you kidding me? Can't you see that she is spectacular in every single way?) She was only referring to Alyssa's size though. She's in the 55th percentile, which is tiny compared to her sister, who was a little butterball baby and was already off the charts in height and weight by this age.

She loves her pacifier but if it's not available she will happily put her fingers in her mouth, as many fingers as she can, as a matter of fact. She slurps so loudly and enthusiastically that it sounds like she's devouring some sinful dessert. Every once in a while I want to yank those little fingers out of her mouth to make sure she hasn't found my chocolate stash. Alyssa is fascinated by her hands, frequently staring at one of her fists as if it's just the coolest thing she's ever seen. (I remember I thought it was odd when Amanda did this but I guess it's a normal baby thing…or perhaps both of my children are freaks.) She's still sleeping through the night. (Thank you Alyssa!) She loves her swing, her mobile, and her rattle. Her sister is continually offering up a wide variety of other toys for her enjoyment but mostly gets a pretty unenthusiastic response.

Oh! Alyssa laughed for the first time a few days ago. I was washing her face with a warm washcloth and she started giggling. She did it a couple of times but then stopped. Later that night, Scott made a loud noise and it startled her. Her whole body jerked and I thought she might cry, but instead she laughed. So of course he repeated the loud scary stuff over and over again. She would laugh each time, which was just about the cutest sound on earth so then we would all laugh. But since then, she hasn't laughed even once, despite our repeated annoying attempts to get her to do so. I know… her face can only get so clean and if Scott doesn't knock it off with all the "BOO!" stuff we'll have to put her on anxiety medication before she hits the six-month mark. She's probably thinking we need to get some better material and don't think we're not trying.

Did I mention that I'm loving every minute of this? I am. But why does she have to grow up? I keep finding myself trying to memorize every single detail about her yummy little baby-self… the way she wraps all of her fingers around my pinky, the smell of her little fuzzy head, the sound of her sweet voice, the big drooling gummy smile she breaks into if you even so much as glance in her general direction… I find myself watching her while she sleeps and I keep wishing there was a way to freeze time somehow. But then I remind myself that I've felt exactly the same way about Amanda at every single age along the way.

Every age and stage they go through is wonderful for different reasons. (Well the screaming tantrum stage is not exactly delightful.) I know it will only get better but I still plan to enjoy every minute of this stage. So when she falls asleep in my arms I won't be rushing to put her down so I can finish the laundry or anything silly like that. Clean socks are highly overrated anyway.