Developmental milestones are physical or behavioral signs of development or maturation of infants and children. The milestones are different for each age range, and children develop a little differently from one another. However, there are physical, motor, sensory and cognitive markers parents and medical practitioners can use to recognize if a child’s development is within the normal range, advanced or delayed. Well, it sounds exciting to talk about child developmental milestones but for now, let us not go deep into the technical details but rather the emotional roller coaster that my husband and I got into with this facet of parenting.
Among our four children, the youngest has been causing us some worries with every milestone in her development. Don’t get me wrong, we keep a close watch of her growth and development and are happy for she is doing great. She is such a blessing!!! It just that there is this fear of "losing our baby" too soon. Before we know it, she'll be a toddler, then a preschooler and so on. The fact that she is our last makes us want to cling to that state for a little longer and savor it some more. To cut the drama short it is really our selfishness that's making us a little sad with her every milestone.
Our first child, a girl, was confidently walking at 9 months of age, our second and third, both boys did it when they were 10-month-old. Our youngest is now 10 months and just starting to balance with her two feet. Instead of worrying why she’s not walking yet, we feel okay with it... not just because we know that every child develops at a different pace but because we are taking pleasure in seeing her move around on fours.
I remember this Fil
ipino riddle that goes:
“Nung maliit ay apat ang paa, nang lumaki ay dalawa, nang lumaon ay tatlo na”
(When small it's legs are four, as it grew it has two, and eventually three)
The answer is "human" who starts to move around using all his legs and arms, then walks with just his two feet, and in his final phase he would require a cane for support. Given a little more time our baby girl will level up from fours to twos...she’ll be up and about walking with her two feet. It feels like with just a blink of an eye we're "losing our baby" and then open it to see a toddler running around. But there’s no stopping her, we know. *sob*
Anyway, we want to say that we love you Nadine and we’ll be here to cheer you on your every step.
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About Us (circa 2009)
Our journey led us to this place. A little more than 10 years ago we began our journey as husband and wife. Three years later, we found ourselves with two bundles of joy- a daughter and then a son. They're the children we've dreamed of having.
About five years since the birth of our son, an unexpected gift came- a younger brother to our school-age kids. And soon enough, a baby girl arrived to round the family membership.
Brave was a term used by a friend to describe us. Challenging... and loving it -- yeah, this journey is not for the faint of heart.
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