Chronicle Baby’s Many Firsts

Many say that time flies so fast when you’re having fun. I say, time flies so fast when you’re taking care of a child. My first born son is now three years and four months old; yet, I feel that it was not too long ago when I gave birth to him. I have stopped working since I was pregnant with my first child. Still, I wasn’t able to record all of his milestones. One reason is that I was too busy taking care of him and I didn’t notice that he was growing very quickly. Other times, it simply didn’t enter my mind or I didn’t think then that it would be nice to record that milestone.

One thing I realized though as I looked back in the past three years is that it has been an amazing experience to witness the growth of a child. And we parents, mothers especially, are truly blessed to be given that opportunity.

So, now that I have just given birth to my second baby – Mateo -- I commit to pay more attention to his development day by day and to the many firsts in his life. I promise to do my best in documenting as many milestones as possible and put them together in a baby book, scrapbook and blog. If I can document them with a photograph or video, much better.

To other moms out there who are either pregnant or who recently gave birth just like me, here’s a list of the many firsts you might want to take note of in your baby’s life. It would be good even for pregnant moms to read up on these things so that they can plan and prepare for these events even before they happen. I was not able to record some of these things for my first baby because I didn’t have a baby book then that had prompts to watch out for all these milestones. Now, that I know better, I hope to chronicle most if not all of them.

FIRST TIME TO…

- take a bath.
- move head from side to side; lift head.
- sleep through the night.
- roll (side to side, tummy to back and back to tummy).
- follow people around the room with his eyes.
- smile; laugh.
- have his nail trimmed.
- turn his head when his name is called.
- coo or babble.
- recognize Mom or Dad.
- go to church or attend Mass.
- visit another place outside of the home or his pedia’s clinic.
- feed from a bottle (for breastfed babies).
- hold a toy or an object.
- sit with support and without support.
- crawl.
- get sick.
- have a haircut.
- have a tooth.
- clap.
- wave.
- open and close hands when prompted.
- hold his own bottle without help.
- use a spoon to feed himself.
- hum or sing a song.
- stand with or without support.
- brush his teeth with help.
- use a sippy cup.
- hold a cup on his own.
- shake head to say No
- nod head to say Yes.
- kiss someone.
- dance to music.
- swim.
- run.
- climb out of his crib.
- climb stairs on his own.
- doodle.
- write numbers or letters.
- write his name.
- tiptoe.
- undress himself.
- pick up objects.
- say “mama”, “dada” or “mommy” and “daddy”.
- say his name.
- say “please” or “thank you”.
- say “I love you.”
- fall or have a scratch.
- read a book.
- join a playgroup.

You can even take it a step farther by collecting and keeping some of the things he used as a baby and make a time capsule with all those things. You can keep his first toy, book, milk bottle, together with his lock of hair during his first haircut, his nail trimmings when you first cut his nails, photograph, bib, mitten, booty, cap, pillow, toothbrush, etc. I’m confident that looking at these records and items in the future would be heartwarming both to you and your child.