Milestones

Good mothers preserve their children's babyhood in carefully maintained baby books, saving birth congratulatory cards, locks of hair, and roughly a zillion pictures of baby. Good mothers meticulously record all the glorious firsts: baby's first food, baby's first step, baby's first word. Good mothers keep these nostalgic albums up to date, rushing to the book to record the memories as soon as they happen.

The rest of us have a shoebox full of mementos and good intentions.

Lately I've been thinking a lot about making Ben's baby scrapbook - how I'd organize it, what colour scheme I'd use, which photographs I'd include. Unfortunately, Ben suffers from Second Child Syndrome. Being the second child, we did not record all those firsts on the calendar as diligently as we did with his older sister.

That's not to say that it wasn't as exciting when he rolled over, sat up, and crawled. It's more that he's a totally different baby. While Maya was a sweet, mild-mannered baby girl who loved to babble, look at books, and swing gently in the swings at the park, Ben is a sweet, rough and tumble baby boy who loves to throw toys at his sister's head, climb high slides, and generally scare the crap out of his mom. As such, Ben's baby album is more likely to have milestones like these:

• baby's first love bite from a girl (June 2008, 5 months)
  
• baby's first trip to the ER (August 2008, 7 months old, croup)
  
• baby's first time picking his own nose (October 2008, 9 months)


• baby's first poop in the tub (November 2008, 10 months, unfortunately this was during a shared bath time with Maya. Much screaming ensued.)


• baby's first black eye (March 2009, 14 months)


• baby's first "artwork" on the walls/floor/himself (April 2009, 15 months)


• baby's first mohawk (June 2009, 17 months, thanks Eri)


• baby's first Happy Meal (August 2009, 19 months)


• baby's first split lip (August 2009, 19 months, stepped in front of the swing)


• baby's first curse word (still to come - something to look forward to!)

First foods (oatmeal), steps (13 months), and words (kitty cat) are important, too, but the above list shows more about Ben's baby personality. I bet those of us with shoeboxes of memorabilia would be far more inclined to keep up to date with albums if they included milestones such as these.

So keep those milestones coming, Ben. As much as you terrify me with your daredevil confident nature, it makes for an interesting memory book and blog.