It's every parent's nightmare: What if my baby isn't right?

It's the obsession. We watch anxiously for each developmental milestone, but its appearance doesn't do much to lessen the worry. We just move on to the next one. Gods forbid that the baby not reach a milestone by the time the books say she should.

Ninety-nine percent of the time, the worry is groundless. The milestones are reached, and if the kid doesn't learn to roll over or reach for things until six months instead of four, it's hardly going to keep him out of college.

But that doesn't stop parents from worrying.

I don't usually mention our worries about Penny here. That's one part superstition (if you talk about it, it will come true) and one part knowing that everything will probably turn out fine and one part just wanting to keep things light over here.

(It's also because people say some of the dumbest things... I mentioned to someone that I was a little worried that Penny was taking her time learning to roll over, and they said, "Good! The longer it takes her, the longer you have before you have to start really babyproofing!" As if consideration of mere convenience would make a dent in worrying about my child's development.)

About a month ago, we went out to dinner with the Brandts, and Braz snapped his fingers by Penny's ear, and was a little surprised that she didn't turn her head to look. He shrugged it off - "Guess she's not there yet." - but it set Matt and I firmly on a worry-road.

Could she not hear? Or not hear very well? Is there something wrong with her brain, that she hasn't yet figured out that sounds mean things?

She does react far more strongly to visual stimuli. Not too surprising - both Matt and I are visually oriented, too. But still, we worried.

This morning, I snapped my fingers by her right ear, and she turned to look. She prefers looking to the right, though, so I snapped my fingers by her left ear, and she turned to look.

She hadn't been there, and now she is.

Most of the babies I've known have had strong instincts from birth to grasp things and put things in their mouths. Penny - not so much. It just doesn't seem to interest her - which means she's running a good month or two behind what the books say are the development points for reaching for things and grasping. But she's finally started fingering her toys and lifting things to her mouth.

We had worried about her not yet rolling over until 1) we learned that some babies never do decide to roll over; 2) she started enjoying learning to stand, and 3) she finally did roll over entirely by accident a few days ago. She hasn't managed it again, but at least now we know she can.

She's a month or six weeks "behind" on a lot of things. They say premature babies tend to develop later - about when they would have if they'd gone to term, rather than according to their actual age. Penny definitely wasn't premature, but she was awfully reluctant to be born. It makes me wonder... If they hadn't induced labor, would she have "cooked" for another month?

She's definitely on-schedule with food, though. Less than a week into it, she's figured out that she has to keep her hands out of my way, and she opens her mouth for the spoon, and far more goes down her throat than back out onto her chin. Matt took a bunch of pictures last night. (Sign number 34,887 that we're parents: We could find reasons why each one of those pictures needed to be kept and posted.)

We went to a MissMas party this weekend. The gift exchange portion of things was kept fairly short, due to the presence of two babies and a toddler, but it was a really fun party.

Emma is very dubious about the idea of a game where she gets a present, and then has it taken away again!

KT and Kevin ensured that their gifts would be coveted: They taped a chocolate bar to each!

Jessica was a big hit with everyone.

--Liz