Milestones

As a stay at home mom of a former preemie, I often find myself struggling with the milestones used to assess my little one. The passing of these steps often seems to be culturally linked (mentally or otherwise) with parenting skills in our society. And because I am at home with Robyn, part of me believes that there should be no reason why she doesn't jump over all these hurdles with flying colors. But most (okay, all) of these so called "essentials" - sleeping, eating and (every mom's favorite) the potty - have yet to be mastered by my "rebellious" three year old.

This caused me to be quite nervous at her three-year check up this week. I was mortified from the start when I was handed a cup and told to have Robyn pee in it. I stood there slack jawed, knowing this was an impossibility. Believe me, I came just short of begging her to pee in that cup as we struggled in the bathroom. Then, when interrogated by the pediatrician, I just stammered through my responses to questions about Robyn's eating and sleeping habits - hoping not to be reprimanded by the him for my lack of discipline.

I've had to reflect upon the wisdom imparted in "The Girlfriends' Guide to Toddlers" and to ignore all that "stuff" and to genuinely reflect upon the true progress that our little Robyn miracle has made.

She is now officially 27 pounds and a whopping 34 and a quarter inches. And every day she manages to astound me with her vast vocabulary, her singing, dancing, acting and her athletic skills. I also know that she can "read" to an extent. Rather, she has a great capacity to recognize words. And suddenly she has this fascinating imagination. I'm often stunned at the things she makes up as I listen to her running commentary as she plays with her toys. She argues with me so much of the time that I jokingly started the Monty Pythonesque "I want to buy an argument" game. She seems to have grasped this very quickly and loves to stand her ground at a price of two dollars. And even though she finds eating boring, she can cook pretend soup, tea and a wide assortment of imaginary items for hours. I'll laugh if she ends up being a chef.

Robyn is crazy for her instruments of late. The keyboard, her drum and her tambourine for starters. And now she really tries to "play" her "guitar" and sing with Daddy.



And just this week Robyn started riding her bike. One day she peddled her little trike and tested it out in the parking lot, and the next she rode it around the block with me running after at times. And what better destination than to see ducks at the pond! I guess I will need to shop for her first helmet this year!





These feats of development may not be on the books as "milestones" in the doctor's office, but they do prove to me that Robyn is making tremendous strides every day. And as the author of "The Girlfriends' Guide to Toddlers" likes to remind her readers, "They don't go to Kindergarten in diapers", I know that all the other things will happen in their due time. I know that one day I'll reflect on how ridiculous I was to worry about them all. And there really is no better way to end the day with your little one telling you to "cuddle me with both arms Mum". Oh, how I'll miss that when she's sixteen!