Don't blink

In the latest edition of mom digest, here's a newsflash: don't stress too much over some developmental milestones, because they will eventually arrive. (Thank you, Capt Obvious!)

A huge stressor for moms, at least for this one, is all the milestones and firsts that your baby is supposed to have in their first year or two of life. The parenting apps and blogs I read when my bug was born are chock full of information on both physical and cognitive development for babies in all months of life. Naturally, this means that if my baby wasn't doing what the app or blog said he should be doing at x months old, I would get worried. I would start ruminating over the possibility of a problem with him. Even if it felt silly to get all worked up over, I would still worry under the surface. For example, my baby didn't start pulling himself up until he was about 10 or 11 months; there's a kid in his class who is pulling himself up at 8 months. Another example: my baby didn't cut his teeth for at least 4 or 5 months after I started having posts about cutting teeth show up on my daily parenting app alerts. It seemed like my kid took his sweet time until he finally started sleeping through the night. Incidentally, I stopped sleeping through the night and wake up several times to check on him. Is that irony or insanity?

In this case, these are not life or death situations, just minor anxieties. But they feel huge at the time. Every little thing that's not textbook feels like a potential disaster, and all us moms want is for our kids to be healthy and normal in their development. So here's my life lesson takeaway so far that seems like common sense but still needs to be repeated for the anxious, paranoid moms like me: every kid is different. Every kid moves at their own pace. Pending any serious cognitive, behavioral or developmental delays, your kid is fine. He will cut those teeth when his gums are good and ready. He will crawl when he's feels like it. He will say "mama" when he's feeling sad and needy. He will say "dada" every other second of every day. He will walk when he feels confident enough to try. He will take a flying leap out of a bouncy chair when he sees the other kid in his class do it. He will start sleeping through the night when his rhythms regulate. He will get to whatever stage/level he's supposed to be at when he gets to it. 

It's challenging all the time for me to not compare my baby to others, in terms of his abilities and his development. It's a mindset I don't enjoy, and every time I'm able to step back and tell myself that it's useless to compare him to others, I do feel a little more convinced of how silly it is to do this. But in the meantime, I'll just keep writing down his milestones in his baby book and beam with pride and joy at the plethora of things my baby is learning to do every day. Seriously, don't blink. Progress and milestones happen in an instant.