A/N: I just wanted to say thank you again to everyone that has reviewed, or put this story on their favorite or alert list. I never thought I would write anything for this genre but I really enjoyed it. I would like to write more stuff like this and I have some ideas, and I'll see you next story. As always enjoy and review.
Peters 2 months
"You always did believe that actions spoke louder than words,"
The first few days with Peter hadn't been the easiest, partly because Tony and Steve had zero experience in the department of babies. Like many other first time parents most of what they knew about babies came from the books that they (mainly Steve) had read about them.
By no means was Steve a quitter, but after five straight days of him seemingly not being able to do anything to make Peter stop crying he was starting to feel like a failure.
Steve felt like he was playing a guessing game when Peter would cry. If only Peter could tell him what was wrong then he could fix it, but it would be awhile before Peter could talk. So for now all Steve could do was try his best to make him happy.
This was one of the worst feelings Steve had, he felt useless as a parent. It felt as if all his affection, attention, love and effort were for nothing. He was disappointed, even though he knew he shouldn't have been. And he was afraid that his greatest fear was coming true.
When he and Tony had talked about starting a family they'd each had their own insecurities about it. While Tony wasn't so sure that he could be a good enough parent to a child that could tell him what he or she needed, Steve was just the opposite.
Not to sound over confident but he wasn't too worried about that stage of their child's life. What worried him the most was how well he could take care of a baby that wouldn't be able to tell him what was wrong.
He kept thinking about how many things he would do wrong all because he didn't know what the baby would want. It kind of scared him, but that part he kept to himself.
Eventually they both came to the conclusion that they would work out whatever issues they may have as they came and not before then. They also agreed to support each other and went forward with their plan to adopt a child.
Not too long after this Peter entered their lives. From the moment that Steve and Tony saw him they were in love with him, he completed them, and made them a family.
"You just have to keep trying Steve that's all." Tony said after they put Peter to bed on their fifth night as parents. He had picked up on how Steve was feeling.
"Yeah, I know."
Tony was right, and in a few weeks Steve able to figure out what his son wanted by the way he was crying, believe it or not it was possible to tell the difference between them.
He categorized them into four types of cries; "I'm tired," "Feed me," "Change me" and "I want to be held". There was also a fifth type of cry that occurred when Peter had more than one of the already mentioned needs.
Once he learned which cry was which he began to feel much more confident in his ability to take care of Peter.
It was actually during one of Peter's "I want to be held" cries earlier today that something amazing happened. After Steve picked him up and began to say what he normally did to ease him, he gave Peter a genuine smile.
That's when it happened Peter smiled back at him, completely surprising Steve, not that this was the first time Peter had ever smiled, he actually smiled most of the time when he was sleeping, and it was adorable.
What made this smile so special was that it was Peter's first social smile, one of the first and important forms of communication between a parent and child.
Steve knew it was a social smile because when Peter had done it not only was he alert but he'd focused on Steve, and looked him in the eyes. In addition was also bigger and lasted longer than any other smile Peter had ever made.
Another reason that this milestone was such a big deal was that it indicated Peter's neurological growth and ability to communicate were right on track, as well as a signal of emotional growth.
Peter was beginning to show that he could distinguish between different emotional states; like being aware of the happy feeling he got from seeing Steve or Tony, or the sad feeling he had when they were not around.
His vision was also improving a social smile was a clear sign that, his brain was now able to register a familiar face. In a sense when he smiled now it was like, he was saying, "Hey, I know who you are, and I like how you make me feel."
Suddenly, all the endless duties of the last few weeks seemed worth it and a few tears began welling up in Steve's eyes. And while he knew it may have seemed shallow to take pride in this small victory he couldn't help it.
He was feeling a number of emotions, because at last, something he did made his son happy, and this was the most incredible experience as a parent he had thus far.
To him it was more than just a smile, it was and intentional gesture of warmth meant just for him and it meant that their relationship was beginning to strengthen. Even without words.
"Now more than ever you know how true that is, having a baby changes everything."
A/N: Me again, so yeah I think we all know by now that having a baby does changes everything.
Apparently anytime a baby smiles before their at least 6 to 8 weeks or 2 moths, they're not doing because they are necessarily happy, it's more like they're doing it because it's one of the few things they can do. Also until a baby is about 2 moths their vision isn't good enough to even recognize their parents or caregivers face. When I learned all of this I thought it would be a good idea to use it for Steve since I figured that he might worry about bonding with Peter while he was still a baby.