The other day, as Florence sat cuddling baby Raffie, I overheard her say to him ‘Soon you will be walking and talking and doing everything’ and I thought steady on Flobo, let’s not wish the time away so fast! And then it occurred to me that time does go fast and she is absolutely right because it really doesn’t seem five minutes since she herself was a tiny baby and I was marking all of her milestones, when she crawled (5 months), got her first tooth (the same month),walked (the week of her first birthday) and so on…
Florence was quick off the mark with lots of her developmental milestones and I remember feeling incredibly proud of her at baby groups doing most things before her friends but what you learn, as a second time parent is that they all do it in the end and get to the same place… It really doesn’t matter who got off the starting blocks quickest. Jimmy, my baby who barely said a word until he was two, choosing instead to simply quack like a duck (it was ok we totally understood what he was saying through intonation) is now one of the most eloquent 5 year old’s I have ever met and it didn’t stop him doing other things like walking at 9 months (I kid you not) and being brilliant just the way he was!
Third time around and I seem to have learned even more, grown perhaps? Because this time I want to savour every second, not will Raffie on to learning the next step but enjoy the moments as they happen. He will do all these things, of course he will, but as and when doesn’t really matter because like I said before, they all get there in the end!
There’s lots of myths about milestones and what should happen when and how. I say ignore everything and go with your baby, how he or she does things is going to be entirely unique to them so just enjoy who they are and celebrate their achievements when they happen – there’s no need to stress about it on the way!
One thing I will say though is that you MUST celebrate when they do things and write the blooming dates down or you will forget! They grow so fast that suddenly they will be telling you when you’ve made punctuation mistakes – believe me, true story in our house! Blink and you’ll miss it so basically, don’t blinking blink!
I wrote this post to celebrate the launch of the new ‘Learn To walk Baby Annabell’ doll which is sure to be a hit this Christmas! She can crawl, walk and babble just like real babies learn to do and we think, just like the rest of the Baby Annabell range, that she’s delicious! Little girls (and boys, Jimmy LOVES his) will adore this one as she really is quite unique!
In collaboration.
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