You already know about the big developmental milestones – rolling over, sitting up, crawling, walking, etc. –that your baby will likely reach in the first year. But there are so many other amazing changes and developments to celebrate.
Here are 8 that we find exceptionally momentous.
1. Making Eye Contact
The first few months of a new baby are filled with lots of cuteness, but not much in the way of making a satisfying connection – it's all feedings, diaper changes, and soothing. The time when your baby starts making eye contact and tracking you around the room – at about three months old – is when the fun really begins. Now you have a baby, not an infant, to really play and engage with.
2. Trying Out the Park Swing
Slipping your baby into the infant swings at your local playground is an achievement on so many levels: now there's something among all that big-kid equipment that she can do, and you don't just have to stand around holding her or getting down on the ground to do tummy time on a blanket anymore. She (read: you) actually has a reason to load up into the stroller and hit the playground!
3. Interacting with a Sibling
Your firstborn was probably less than impressed by the small bundle you brought home from the hospital as soon as he figured out his new baby sibling didn't really <i> do </i> anything. So it's pretty thrilling when baby develops enough to play with, or at least be amused by, your older child.
4. Sitting in the Shopping Cart
You've shopped with your baby strapped into a carrier, used the stroller as carry-all, piled groceries around the car seat that you placed in the cart... Finally your baby has the back and neck support to sit up in the seat of the shopping cart. Game changer! Now you can get your grocery shopping done by simply buckling your baby into the shopping cart (after you've thoroughly disinfected it, of course). Score one for small victories.
5. Drinking from a Bottle
If you're exclusively Breastfeeding, there's a good chance your baby will be less than thrilled about being given a bottle. This can be terribly stressful for a mama with places to be. Given this, it's not an exaggeration to say that first bottle down can incite tears of joy and significant celebration.
6. Self Feeding
You've made the purées and carefully spoon-fed your baby fruits, veggies, grains, and meats. With the development of the pincher reflex around seven or eight months, suddenly your baby can grasp chunks of food and sample them for herself. Not only is it empowering for her, it frees you from the tedium of spooning up mush. Although the post-meal mess remains the same!
7. Sleeping Without Swaddling
Turning your baby into a burrito was your go-to sleep solution... Until he started rolling over. Suddenly you had to figure out a new way to soothe your little one at bedtime.
8. Moving All Limbs, All the Time
It happens so quickly you won't even believe it – your babe is mobile, and that slow crawl is the least of it. Once your little one can grab things (and knock them over), pull up (and pull things down), creep along the furniture (on her way to the front door), everything changes once again. Now you really need to be on high alert at all times and also do some serious baby proofing, from gates to cabinet locks to furniture stabilizers. The dog's food needs to be relocated, the outlets need to be plugged, and that pesky cable cord is enemy number one. Your newborn-turned-baby is venturing into new territory, mama!