There was a time, just weeks ago actually, when I eagerly clicked open my weekly emails laced with updates on all things baby. I would scroll through and proudly announce to Scott, “Babe, Isla’s going to remember our faces when we’re gone this week!”, thoroughly anticipating my catalog order of milestones to arrive on cue. And for the most part, they’ve arrived on cue. I couldn’t hold back snarky grins when topics on sleep training were featured, feeling so accomplished that Isla had been “doing her nights” since she was 2 months. But just as these milestones spark my excitement, they are quickly dismissed as I claw my way down the mouse wheel until I hit my favorite section–Sneak Peek for Next Week. What will the Isla-girl do next week? Coos turn to laughs? Grabbing with a purpose? I couldn’t wait to find out what we were in for.

Things such as rolling over in her crib.  Back up… sleeping in her crib for the very first time!

Discovering the fascinating skill of toes to the nose… and into the mouth.

Trying sweet potatoes, pronounced “sweet patayta’s” in our house, and our first family-of-three dinner (aka, dinner at the actual table and not in front of the tv).

Making new boyfriends. Ones that play This Little Piggy on her toes and are as smitten with her as she is with them.

“How does that lotion on my finger taste? Does it taste good?” I laugh.

I insert my other hand into my own mouth to make sure the taste isn’t going to create some sort of bad mojo into our nighttime ritual.

“Owww! What was that?,” I asked, thoroughly expecting an answer or at the very least a mischievous grin. In an instant I had both hands lodged in mouth, wishing I had some sort of dental device to hold open her lip flaps so I could get an uninterrupted view. And it was in this moment that my marathon of milestones came to a screeching halt. A tooth. One little, sharp-as-a-Wusthof-knife tooth.

And the next day, there were two.

I wasn’t ready for this. I pranced around in my lala dream world (it’s my dream world, so I get to make up its name), completely oblivious to how these milestones would affect me. Where was that in my update list, Babble? Never once did I see Wonder what the sharp white thing is lodged into your baby’s mouth? on my mouse scroll. I feel like I’ve just gained access to my gummy smiles, and now, like buildings erected along the beautiful shore, my view is on the brink of dwindling.

How quickly and instantly they change. How seamlessly they grow, fulfilling a blurry line of expectations dictated by doctors, email alerts and magazine articles. My checklist, not of milestones, but of excitement in the possibility of watching my little grow, literally grow, is surprisingly coming to fruition in rapid form. I’m fascinated, I’m in awe. And for the record, I’m not a fan of teeth. It’s a sign, or a symbol of sorts. It means girlfriend is on her path and I kind of want to pull over and hang out at the rest stop for a while.

Just a short while. You know, soak in that gummy goodness just a little bit longer.

Suggested Listening:  The Girl / City and Colour