10 minor, but important, milestones all mums will remember

HerFamily

Motherhood is a journey dotted with milestones.

Choc-a-block, in fact, with these little monumental moments, some small, some bigger, that we will always remember, and keep tucked away in our every more overflowing hearts.

There are all the usual milestones, of course, the ones so universally celebrated you can even buy cards to mark them. But then there are also this other set of other milestones that every parent will – if not celebrate – then at least experience.

These are moment that the vast majority of us go through as mothers and as parents. Moments that change us, freak us out, make us cry big, blubbery tears and generally give us a new perspective on what it means to raise a tiny little human:

1. The First Time You Leave Your Child With Another Adult (Other Than You And Your Partner)

There are no words for the tangled morass of guilt, heartbreak, freedom – and then the guilt you feel from feeling the freedom – you will feel the first time someone else is looking after your child for a while. Trust me.

2. The First Time The Baby Rolls Off The Bed

There is a special kind of a panic that comes with this particular milestone, and it will, I argue, be one most of us will no doubt have to experience.

And really, it is kind of borderline miraculous, but you put a baby who can’t move an inch in the MIDDLE of a double bed for FOUR seconds while you yank your pajamas off to put on actual clothes, and SOMEHOW he manages to roll himself off the bed on onto the floor.

Note; this milestone could also fall under categories like “Mummy’s First Freak Out” or the first time you wonder “OH MY GOD, DID I BREAK THE BABY?!”)

3. The First Epic Poop Explosion

Oh. Holy. Gawd. It is everywhere.

4. The First Public Tantrum

The first time your little darling throws an absolute scream-the-house-down tantrum when you are outside the nonjudgmental walls of your own home can be straight out AWFUL. It can also totally make you reconsider ever leaving your house again.

5. The First Time You Wonder If You Can Actually Get Through The Next 18+ Years Of Parenting

This moment may come at any time, really, but for most of us, I would guess it happens at some point between your child is one and a half and four. If you get through these years without at any point wondering if you are going to get through parenting alive, you are some kind of super-human, mamas.

6. The First Time You Take A Flight On Your Own After Having A Baby

Everyone will look like a terrorist, and you will spend the whole flight just listening to make sure the engine isn’t making any strange sounds. Everything needs to be all right with this plane; YOU have a baby to get home to.

7. The First Time You Catch Them Eating Something Really Gross

Cat food? Snots? Licking the hand rail on public transport? No matter what, you will no doubt remember the first time this happened.

8. The Day You Pack Away Nappies

Parenthood is filled with mixed emotions, and this is SO one of them. Of course it is great to have come out the other end of potty-training, but on the other hand, no more bonding and tickles and laughs and struggles over those nappies. And there is something so very final about that sweet baby era when they move onto little underpants.

9. The First Time Your Child Gets Sick

Nothing is worse than when your child is not well, even if we are only talking about a case of the winter vomiting bug or a fever. You will hopefully not do what I did and start googling their symptoms – which can (and I speak from experience) land you in the local A&E with overwhelming meningitis fears, only to be told heat rashes are rather common in children who run a fever…

10. The day you feel like you are doing a good job

This, of course, will not just be one isolated day, but there will be flashes of moments where you will feel like, “wow, they actually got this.” And the pride and love and happiness you will feel is beyond anything you have ever felt before.

It could be little things, like when your 5-year-old helps her little brother out with something – even though you know she would rather continue with whatever she is currently doing herself. Or the day you spot your 2-year-old hugging one of his little friends who has fallen and scraped his knee. It’s when you feel like they will grow up to be lovely people, that they are kind and caring and smart, and that you are on the right path and doing you job well.

And these – of course –are not it. There will be thousands of other moments when you will feel your heartstrings being tugged and your tears about to fall and your sanity being tested, but all these little snippets are what being a parent is all about, isn’t it?

These little moments of joy were brought to you by Cadbury Dairy Milk Buttons. Make more memories here.