Father Doesn't Know Best

In one of my first posts, "Everything I Ever Knew About Childbirth Was A Lie", I wrote (somewhat dramatically) about the fact that the entire process leading up to and through childbirth was nothing like I had been led to believe, by years of watching movies. A woman's water doesn't always break, there isn't always a mad dash to the hospital, in most cases the baby doesn't come out within five minutes of arrival at the hospital, and in no case does the baby come out looking clean and smiling.

Yet, nine months later (holy crap!) I feel like making another overly dramatic assertion, in that everything I ever knew about baby "firsts" was a lie.

Whenever a baby's first crawl, steps, or words are shown during the touching moments of a sitcom or even a television commercial, they are always shown as true "firsts" where the child gets up on their own and starts walking to his mother without assistance for the very first time, or a little girl looks up at her father and says "daddy" while making eye contact with him and maybe even pointing at him.

Well, maybe my kid is broken because none of her milestones have been as easily identifiable as either of those scenarios.

In my post last week, "One Must Learn To Crawl Before...Never Mind", I wrote about the fact that my daughter learned how to "walk" before she figured out how to crawl. But, that experience left me with questions regarding when her true milestone should be recorded.

What should I consider her first step? Is it when she sideways-scooted across the couch, or will it be when she finally steps away from the couch and walks on her own? Can I say that she is walking, or do I have to add the qualifier "while holding onto things" whenever I tell people about her mobility?

We have a "Baby's First Year" calendar in our daughter's room, with stickers for each milestone to be placed on the day they were achieved, and I only have one "First Step" sticker. There is no "First Step While Holding Onto The Couch" sticker.

Likewise, several months ago my daughter increased her vocabulary by adding the consonants b, g, d, and m to the vowels that she had previously mastered. This meant that she could (and would, at great length and loud volume) say "dada", "mama", "baba", and my personal favorite merely for the cute factor: "goo". (Although, she seems to prefer blowing "raspberries" rather than talking.)

However, just because she could say those words, doesn't necessarily mean that she knows what they mean. Mostly, she just strings the sounds together in a long chain like "mamamamamamamamamamamama" while she is playing. On one occasion, I thought that she had actually said "dada" in reference to me while I had my back to her, but when I turned around I found her playing with a dog toy instead.

So, do I count it? Was "dada" her first word, even if it was in reference to a Kong ball? Or, do I have to wait until she uses the word in proper reference to what she is trying to say? I'd love to check off another milestone on her list, but the latter method seems like it is going to take a while. (Especially considering my friends with 13 month-old twins who refer to their dad as "mama".)

I'm sure I'm being more neurotic about this than I should be, that I should be enjoying my daughter's new skills instead of dwelling on when she officially gained them...but this is who I am, dammit!

If someone could explain this one to me, I would really appreciate it!