Milestones and Perspective

First tooth, first crawl, first step, first word - all major milestones that parents wait impatiently for. You cheer. You clap. You tell the entire world what a great, smart, amazing, awesome, fantastic, wonderful little baby you have because no other baby has ever attain such an amazing milestone the way your child has. Then, some how, some where common sense starts to seep its way back into your conscience and you calm down about the milestone. You stop counting every new tooth that comes in. You stop scouring the books to make sure your child not only hit every milestone for the month but hit them on time if not early. You show up at the Well Baby visit and have to think every time the nurse or doctor asks whether or not your child has hit a milestone. It's not that you don't CARE about the milestones anymore. It's just that you no longer worry about exactly WHEN your child hits the milestone. As long as the kid is not seriously behind who cares?

I did notice that Little Man was throwing over hand quite early. Yes I was impressed but I'll be more impressed when he learns to catch a ball with his hands and not his face. Perspective is important as a parent. It wasn't like I was jumping up and down and screaming to the world how smart my kid was. Mainly because everyone already knows and I don't want to be perceived as rubbing it in.

I'M KIDDING PEOPLE! Sheesh! He has half my genetics. If he had 100% then we could claim genius.

So milestones aren't huge to me anymore. Or so I thought. It turns out there are some things that can still make me want to throw open my front door and yell to everyone within earshot what a great thing my son just did.

Take the other night for example. His temperament was good but bordering on hyper so I tried to keep play time as calm as possible (yes, I am still setting unattainable milestones for myself ). I thought I had failed when he started to kick his legs. He likes to lie down and kick both legs. If you aren't close, he will inch closer until he is kicking you. This is not a behavior I approve of and I've been working on with only some success. So he kicks his legs and of course I am in reach. I grab his legs and remind him that we do not kick. I expected him to ignore me, continue kicking, and prepared for a timeout.

Shock of all shocks. He stopped. He also apologized countless times.

"Saw'ree. Saw'ree. Saw'ree".

Strokes my face.

"Saw'ree. Saw'ree".

And he goes back to playing quietly.

Apologizing without being told? It's possible before adulthood? Seriously? Holy SHIT!

Then tonight, we are looking at pictures. Of course, they are all of Little Man. He points to one and says "baby" (I call him baby boy and baby a lot - maybe its time to stop). I reply "That's you". So what does he say when he points to the picture? "Yew".

English may be my mother tongue but I never realized how difficult explaining certain concepts would be.

So I resort to saying his name. He is almost 2 and never said his name. He answers to it with no problem but ask him who he is or what his name is and he turns mute. Not any more! Not only did he point to the picture and say his name but he also answered when I asked him what his name was.

Ok so that was premature. 30 minutes has passed and he is back to Mr. Mute when I ask him. So I guess the question I should be asking is at what point should I be concerned? I mean, I still have a few years for this one right?