Milestones

It seems we start marking milestones from the time we find out we’re pregnant!  There are plenty of milestones going on inside our bellies…splitting of cells, loss of tails, maturing of lungs…but we tend to mark it a little differently.  First there’s the wait for the big 8 week mark for that first doctor appointment, and for most of us, we get a glimpse of our little peanut for the first time and get to see that flicker of a heart beat.  Next comes the end of the 1st trimester.  This brings some relief as the risk of miscarriage is reduced drastically at this point.  Around 20 weeks is the “big” ultrasound where the baby is measured and checked for it’s healthiness….and if baby is successful, you can opt to find out the sex of baby.  (By the way, I don’t think “Bobby Dumpty” would have NOT let us find out.  He was not shy!)  Then you hit the third trimester and your doctor appointment become more frequent….first every two weeks instead of four, and then every week starting at 36 weeks.

And then….oh, the milestones after the baby is here!!!  I won’t even begin to list them all, but there’s the smiling, laughing, rolling over, crawling, walking, talking….and the one we’re still working on:  sleeping through the night!  For the first year or two, there’s always a new milestone being worked toward.  Every new word is a milestone.  However, around two years old, at least for us, things really start to slow down a little.  Nicholas has been walking and talking for a while, so aside from being amused with his ever expanding vocabulary and ability to communicate, there isn’t always a whole lot to be added to the milestone list.

However, we’ve hit a couple that I never would have thought about pre-children.  For starters, he said something smelled like lemons the other day.  Why is this a milestone?  Because for months, everything has smelled like strawberries.  Only recently has he added skunk to his repertoire of smells.  So, lemon is a new one (for the record, what he was smelling was grape scented!).  Another big one for me:  he ate a cold ham sandwich for lunch on Monday!  This adds a whole new meal to our lunch menu!!  You don’t know how excited I was!  He actually asked for more!  I’m anxious to try turkey soon to see what he thinks about that.  Sandwiches would make picnicking a whole lot easier than good ‘ole PB&J.

We are currently working on potty training, and he’s doing pretty well.  I usually blame myself when he has an accident because they usually happen when I’ve failed to make him go.  He never wants to go.  He’s too busy for that, but he will if only I can remember to take him!  The milestone:  he woke up two mornings in a row last week with a dry diaper (haven’t started ‘sleep’ potty training yet)!  That’s pretty big stuff!  And a milestone any mother would love:  Nicholas finally has the ability to tell me if something hurts.  He was on an antibiotic last week that had not so pleasant side effects for his little tummy.  Without me knowing anything was wrong, he told me, “My belly hurts.”  So he sat on the potty until it felt better (I think it really ‘felt better’ because he didn’t want to sit there any longer!).

Once I realized Nicholas is turning into a little boy, and he’s not so much a baby any more, I thought his milestones would become fewer and further between.  Of course, I was thinking about his starting preschool and kindergarten.  I didn’t realize there’d be all these little things in between because they had never crossed my mind as being a big deal.  Soon, though, we will have another little guy who we hope will meet all the milestones Nicholas has.  I just pray I don’t miss out on Nicholas’s continuing and unexpected milestones while anticipating the ones I know will come for “Bobby Dumpty.”

It kills you to see them grow up.  But I guess it would kill you quicker if they didn’t.

-Barbara Kingsolver, Animal Dreams