As a mother of a seven-year-old, a four-year-old and our youngest, who is 16 months, it's important to keep track of all the notable events that have occurred during this enchanting period of young childhood. It's tiring, for sure, but it also goes by in a heartbeat, and if you don't stop to properly document these years, you'll miss every detail.
So here, in writing, are my memories.
First steps:
Child #1: 16 months (very late, as noted by plentiful questions directed to pediatrician and concerned discussions following birthday parties: "Did you see that 10-month-old? He was practically running...")
Middle Child: Well. He's walking now so obviously he learned at some point...
Youngest: Um?
Rolled over:
Child #1: Five months, an event marked by phone calls and texts to grandparents
Middle Child: When he... was... a... baby
Youngest: What I do know is that she is really good unrolling toilet paper super fast.
First smile:
Child #1: Four weeks, as documented heavily by camera and video
Middle Child: I mean, he smiles now... so...
Youngest: Infancy (is my educated guess)
First food:
Child #1: Organic rice cereal
Middle Child: Maybe a tiny sip of my coffee?
Youngest: Somebody's abandoned cookie
First word:
Child #1: "Doggie"
Middle Child: "Ball," and let's state for the record here that I remember it was "ball."
Youngest: "Hi" (as recalled by other children when parents couldn't remember, and hold up, we need to highlight the fact that these children might have better memory skills than parents because they get like 12 hours of sleep a night and don't have millions of responsibilities such as constantly changing diapers and making sure there is food in house, etc.)
First TV show:
Child #1: Sesame Street
Middle Child: The 5 a.m. edition of the local news
Youngest: Game of Thrones
Slept through night:
Child #1 : At twelve weeks, causing parents to develop irrational superiority complex.
Middle Child: Not consistently until thirteen months, causing parents to abandon superiority complex and face reality that babies don't like to sleep, and that first child was an anomaly, not the result of best-ever soothing and swaddling skills.
Youngest: When did she first sleep through the night? Where is she right now, actually?