Back when Master20 and Miss17 were at Daycare we'd arrive to pick them up after work, only to be told all the fantastic new stuff they'd started doing that day.
"That's great," I'd lie as I shepherded my devastated wife out to the car. "Thanks for telling us," I'd say through a fake smile. It really made the whole experience rather horrible - like there isn't enough guilt involved in leaving your child at a centre and going off to work.
My pet hate was when we'd arrive and announce our kid had stood for the first time and they'd say, "She's been doing that for days!" It would really leave a nasty taste.
But these days Daycare Centres seem to understand this sort of situation much better. Actually they're really, really good at not noticing the firsts. Or at least not mentioning them.
Which I suspect is why Tracey knows categorically and without any doubt she has been there for the first of everything with the next four babies. She's seen their first smiles, heard their first chuckles and, of course, witnessed their first rolls.
I haven't been quite so lucky.
"She's rolled over!" she'll declare gleefully to me over the phone. Not that I'm surprised she sees these things like a baby rolling over for the first time - in the past she's spent an inordinate amount of time lying on the floor with the babies training them to do it.
"That's great," I'll say. "Try get it on film for me." (I say things like 'film' because I'm a child of the eighties).
And like her older siblings, Miss0 has been put through her paces lately here in Camp Devereaux.
"I'll just give you some tummy time," Tracey will coo, and then show her how to roll over.
Even when I think I see a first I'm often wrong.
"Tracey! Quick! She smiled!" I recently called out to my wife.
"Oh she did that earlier," she called back. "Isn't it beautiful!" Tracey loves these wonderful moments.
So when Miss0 rolled tonight for the first time while Tracey was at the shops I knew exactly what to do.
Personally, I don't want them to roll too soon. Rolling is the first step on the way to crawling and the last thing I want is a baby scooting around under my feet. I'm always nervous until they can stand and therefore jump out of my way because I tend to walk around the house with my head in a book. But I wasn't going to look a gift horse in the mouth.
"She rolled!!" I called into the phone. "She rolled over for the first time!!!"
It took seven kids, but I finally got my first first :) Projectile vomits aside.
1 comment:
lol, when i used to work in daycare- the rule was not to tell parents about any milestones etc before they had occurred at home. the worst moment was when a new staff member told a parent that their child called them 'mum'(first time)- eeek worst thing ever!!! now i have my own kids would probably punch someone if they said that my child had called them mum before me :)
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