RM column February 1st - Reaching Milestones

RM column February 1st - Reaching Milestones

Children have lots of milestones, first steps and first words are the ones that spring to mind, but there are lots more smaller milestones that can make you happy or sad.

Like the time the Young Wan stopped saying aminal for animal, that made me sad or when she stopped freaking out when she met my Mum’s friend Margaret, that made me happy, well happy-ish.

That was a mad one the Young Wan, who wasn’t ever prone to hissy fits or temper tantrums would throw a freak attack when she would be asked to say hello to Margaret.

Funny thing was when we called Margaret Susan she didn’t freak at all. We had no clue as to why this would be the case but sure children are mad and that was the best explanation we could come up with.

Throughout their lives children have many phases which have their own wee milestones, like actually throwing rubbish in bins instead of shoving it in the nearest place. We haven’t reached that milestone yet but I look forward to the days when we do.

There are other more endearing ones like learning to put your shoes on the correct feet, there is nothing more cute than seeing a child who has obviously stubbornly decided to put their own shoes on and wrongly.

Or the time when they insist on feeding themselves and end up with more up their nose and in the hair than in their mouth, again the Young Wan is still working on getting more food into her mouth than on her clothes.

The tying of shoe laces is another thing that gets my goat, the sight of bedraggled and filthy laces tangling behind her drives me mad.

I don’t think it is a fashion thing, I have seen youngsters with the laces not tied, but tucked neatly into their trainers. But that is not what the Young Wan is doing.

I also find the most common thing I say to her is ‘pull up your trousers’ she seems to have an aversion to belts.

Another thing the Young Wan has not managed to do yet is button up shirts, coats and pyjama tops properly. The bottom button is always buttoned on the second button, giving her an unkempt appearance.
And Nanny doesn’t like it.

The Young Wan will walk into the room and it is such a normal thing for me I barely even notice anymore but Nanny does and she’ll say ‘button that up properly’ to the exasperation of the Young Wan.

So the other night the Young Wan came into the living room to say good night and stood there with her arms outstretched going ‘ta da’ revealing a perfectly buttoned-up pyjama top.
It didn’t last, the next night she walked through and as per usual one side of her top was triangularly hanging well below the other one.

So over the next while I expect there to be another couple of milestones reached, the tying of shoelaces, pulled up trousers and perfectly buttoned tops. Ach who am I kidding I can barely do all those things myself, so I suppose reaching milestones is something that happens throughout our lives and not just when we are young.