You left out the "actually" part of your post.

Gravity is a force. The baby hovered (didnt accelerate) after the dad let go. Gravity doesn't have a delay but yes you are right that full terminal velocity wasn't instantly achieved

Thus she was self supported until she fell back to dodge the ball. End of debate.

right, or the baby would fall instantly because gravity.

Looks like she was on a ledge or wall and fell backwards in a delayed reaction to the ball. The father catches her instantly with nary a drop spilt! That's 2 bad ass catches in a short amount of time.