"There," she whispered. Week 12. The first major leap: Svijet uzoraka — the world of patterns.

She walked in. Luka lay on his play mat, staring at his own hand. He turned it slowly, fingers opening and closing, as if seeing it for the first time. Then — miracle — he smiled. A real smile, not gas. His eyes met Maja's, and in that moment, something clicked.

Not a hungry scream. Not a wet-diaper scream. This was something else — raw, inconsolable, as if the world itself had betrayed him.

Marko sat down heavily on the armchair. "Should we call the pediatrician?"

She'd downloaded it weeks ago from a mom forum, feeling slightly guilty for not buying the physical book. But now, at 4 p.m. with coffee cold in her mug and dark circles under her eyes, she didn't care about guilt.

Maja scrolled through her open tabs and clicked the one she'd been avoiding: Čudesni tjedni — cijeli vodič (PDF) .

Here's a fictional story based on the idea of a parent reading the Čudesni tjedni PDF during their baby's leap: Maja stared at the blinking cursor on her laptop. Outside the window, Zagreb’s afternoon light faded into a soft October drizzle. Inside, three-month-old Luka screamed.