Sunday, August 10, 2008

Milestones

When you are raising two little monkeys disguised as human babies, its all about the milestones. I realize most moms anxiously await the traditional milestones. You know, the big stuff. Sleeping through the night, walking, talking, potty training. Those might be traditional, but they are just the tip of the iceberg. I count the more meaningful milestones. Like being about to give me more than 2 seconds notice when they are going to throw up. Being able to climb in the car and buckle themselves up. Being able to run to the fridge in the garage and get me a cold Diet Coke. A great day is when your preschooler can run outside solo and get the newspaper (especially good on cold winter mornings...besides, little kids love to see their breath in the air)!

Over the summer we've reached three big milestones. First, I can send Hayden all over Nob Hill when I am in line and forget something. And now, after years of working on this trick milestone, he consistently comes back with the right item! He'll even ask for help reaching it. This is a milestone that works for me!

Willow reached a big one too. She can whisper to me in the morning "Can I go downstairs"? She can set herself up with T.V for a good 30 minutes while I catch some more sleep. I think with work, she will be able to pour cereal this year. :)

And then there's the one negative milestone. Willow has memorized my cell phone number. And she knows how to use the house phone. What this does for her, is she can now call me on those Sunday afternoons that I use to go the gym and run errands while her Daddy is home. It's great, she keeps me up to date on the instances that Dad sends her to her room FOR NO REASON (this is usually accompanied by many tears and a muffled voice as she tries to keep Daddy from realizing she is on the phone upstairs). She can also give me a holler to let me know that Dad has apparently up and walked out leaving her home alone...no, it never occurs to her to look as far as the backyard.

Milestones, people, its all about the milestones.

2 comments:

pjtog said...

I love your blog!!!! You really have a flare for writing. I am going to share it with my daughter who is thinking about having kids. Your writing really makes me chuckle.
I can identify with your frustration over the kids' favorite summer activity. It is just like when after knocking myself out all year long to make sure school is not BORING. I ask the class what their favorite thing was and most of them say RECESS. Arrrgh.

Anonymous said...

Every kid definitely has their own milestones. I remember The Bean's first declaration to one of that "you're mean!" Ahhh, the first of many times I'm sure!