When we think about milestones in our lives, we often focus on big, once in a lifetime experiences like graduation, births, marriages, and walking by ourselves.  But we cannot forget our everyday milestones, as well.  They are a lot smaller and a lot harder to recognize but sometimes they lead to larger outcomes due to the relationship of cause and effect.  Take my daughter for example.  In the last two weeks we have added shoes to her wardrobe.  Now this isn't the first attempt at shoes and socks, before anyone gets angry with me for allowing my one year old to go without these things.  However she has always refused and yanked them off her feet within two seconds.

Last winter we bought her not one but two pairs of boots that she never kept on for longer than an eyeblink.  And the same went for socks.  Despite this, our girl is now walking and always wants to be outside.  So with cooler weather coming socks and shoes are not longer optional!  Our first attempt at shoe shopping was an epic fail with her screaming and both of us utterly frustrated.

Our second attempt was much more successful - we not only found a pair of velcro flats in size 6 (which was two sizes bigger than we were trying the first time!), but also a pair of velcro boots so that she can play in the snow (when it arrives...hopefully not very soon).  And she kept them on!  No kicking and screaming and flying shoes!  It was amazing.  We also picked up quite a few pairs of socks, which she also is keeping on!


The first attempt at wearing the shoes, however, was a bit of a struggle.  Once they were on her feet she absolutely refused to walk - instead she crawled all over the room.  But the shoes stayed on her feet and she soon realized that shoes means outside playtime or byebye.  And she loves to stomp her feet in her shoes.  When she is stomping in her shoes, she has one of the most adorable faces of pure joy that I have ever seen.


Our newest challenge/milestone is the change in sippy cups.  Since transitioning to a sippy cup from a bottle in May, we've made very little progress.  She will drink from small Juice box straws, but no others.  And she will drink out of a cup without a lid, if you hold it...with lots of dribbles.  We haven't really pushed for a whole lot of progression, just letting her experiment and try to problem solve the various cups (she's naturally very good at program solving).


However, her current sippys all leak (from wear) and it is time to push a little harder for the next stage.  So Grandma bought her a new sippy and we tried practicing with it over the weekend.  It requires her to suck on it like a straw and she got a few sips from it and had lots of fun carrying it around trying to figure it out.  But we still haven't made huge progress with it.  Today, she is now chucking it to the ground when she can't figure out how to get a drink.  It will come quickly though, because she is crazy smart and LOVES to problem solve.


These moments make up a huge part of Mamahood.  These are successes to be cherished.  Yet, they are  often missed or overlooked.  Trust me, I've overlooked quite a bit in my struggles on my Mamahood journey.  As much as it drives me crazy that she attaches herself to me the moment I walk into the door, I miss that little girl the whole time I'm at work and just want to cuddle with her.  In my opinion, these moments need be celebrated, because they are so very, very fleeting.  Especially with children, who tend to grow up way too fast (I still can't believe she's a year old!!).  Each of these milestones is a step to Atty growing up into an adult.  I want to remember to cherish it all, because the last year has taught me it will be gone before you know it!

What moments in your everyday life are you overlooking?  What are some things about your life today that you want to remember, because they might change?  What crazy, funny, cute, or random things are your kids/family/friends/pets doing?  I'd love to hear about them!  If your interested in my other Mamahood tales, you can check them out here.