I celebrated a number of milestones during my son’s first year, most of which centered around him and his development. For example, his first smile, his first time sitting up, his first crawl, and his first steps were all celebratory moments. However, happening right alongside my baby was the growth and development of another person, too. Me. New moms often come a long way in those early months, and I think it’s worth acknowledging that there are milestones moms should reach in a year, too. Some of them aren’t quite as significant as, you know, learning muscle control and basic communication skills, but some of them still feel pretty important.
Now that he’s older, and I’m ever-so-slightly more seasoned at this whole parenting thing, there are still plenty of milestones I can look forward to witnessing my son reach. However, those milestones are few and far between these days, spaced out and not necessarily as exciting. For example, just this past weekend I had to cut a mother/son outing short because of a public poop incident, which was bound to happen at some point. Did we hit a milestone of sorts? Yes. Was I happy about it. Nope.
Of course, it’s up to each individual mom to choose how she’d like to celebrate these momentous occasions. I’m personally a fan of lamenting to my partner and texting my closest friends for sympathy. Also, occasionally consoling myself with snack foods seems to work. However, and again, to each their own.
The First Time You're In Public And Don't Realize There’s Spit-Up On Your Shirt
Does leaving the hospital count? Just kidding. Look, it's bound to happen. In fact, the sooner the band-aid is ripped off, the better. It happens to all of us, and I promise that no one else cares as much as you do.
The First Time You're In Public And You Don't Care There’s Spit-Up On Your Shirt
I confess: I don’t actually remember the first time this happened, because parenting an infant just turned into one long year of always having spit-up on my shirt. Still, at some point I crossed over, and it was not a big deal.
The First Time You’re Able To Help Another Mom
Speaking of spit-up in public, once I was admiring a cute baby from across a clothing store when that baby spit-up all over the mom’s shoulder and back. The pre-motherhood me was always weary of any kind of digestive malfunction, and would have been too squeamish to get involved. However, after I became a mom, it was no big deal to approach her.
The First Google Search You Regret
I don’t care what anyone says, baby poop is not straightforward. While I can’t for the life of me figure out why anyone would post photos of their kids’ diapers online, it did bring me a weird semblance of comfort to know that my son’s first few diapers were totally normal(ish). Still, I wish I could un-see the, um, research I did to get to that point.
The First Major Episode Of "Mommy Brain" That You Can Laugh About
At some point during my son’s first weeks at home, my spouse and I were considering an ambitious walk to our neighborhood coffee shop. I interrupted our plans by asking, “Are they open on Tuesdays?” which was an absurd question for two reasons. The first is that, what coffee shops aren’t open on Tuesdays? The second is that it happened to be Friday. "Mom brain" had struck.
The First Successful Errand Run
If “successful” means you left your wallet at Target, and had to drive back from the parking lot of your next store, only to find it still in the cart that you returned, then yes, I achieved this one only a few months in.
The First Time You Think You’ve Got A Hang Of Things
Actually, for me, this was when I was running errands with my son, about 45 seconds before I realized I’d forgotten my wallet at Target.
The First Time You Brush Off Criticism
I find tiny baby shoes just as cute as the next person, for the record. However, that doesn’t mean my child wore them everyday. Until he was mobile, shoes were pretty much optional for us, since he spent all his time either in his carrier, being worn by me or his dad, or being carried. We relied on socks to keep his feet warm, and feel perfectly fine with that decision.
However, I can still recall the interaction I had with an older lady in line at a nearby store, when she felt it necessary to comment on my son’s lack of footwear. I probably wouldn’t have been so quick to brush it off had another shopper not come to my defense, but it surprised me nonetheless.
The First Time You Forget There’s Definitely Pee On Your Clothes
It’s not that you don’t care that there’s pee on your clothes, because of course you do. You just are so busy and distracted that it literally slips your mind completely. Whereas before we were moms, I’d wager that such an incident would send us running to the shower.
