Celebrating Milestones

Think back to when your kids were little... for some of you these things are happening right now, some of you might have to think back a bit!  If you don't have kids, you can think back to your own childhood, but I am going to write it with the perspective of having kids. 

As a family we naturally celebrate milestones in our kids lives.  When they first smile, first roll over, first sit up.  We smile and encourage them... we tell other people about it... it is a big deal!

When your child gets older they come running to you when new things happen... "Mommy, Mommy look what I can do!"  Or "Mommy, Mommy I have a loose tooth!"  Again, we celebrate these things, we make a big deal out of it.  The child feel celebrated, loved and valued. 

We had one of these milestones happen in our house yesterday.  Mila lost a tooth.  This was actually her second tooth to come out (the first one happened a week or so before we got her... darn!).  I knew her tooth was loose, but when I checked it just a few days ago it wasn't anywhere near ready to come out. 

So you can imagine my surprise yesterday when she smiled at me and I noticed she had a hole in her mouth!  "Mila!" I said, "Where is your tooth?"  She very casually told me that she pulled it our during her nap time, which had been about an hour earlier.  She was so casual about it that she didn't even know where her tooth was... yes, which means I have a random tooth lurking about my house.  She seemed surprised when I made a big deal about it coming out!  We went up to her room to search for the tooth (which we couldn't find... gross... oh well). 

I got to thinking about it last night.  These girls have never had someone make a big deal out of them.  They have never had milestones celebrated with them.  It really isn't right.  Of course, then it also made me think about the millions of other orphans who are in the same situation.  They are a big deal, these kids should be loved on, cared for and CELEBRATED!!!!!!!!! 

Cute Mila!

Some of you might be wondering if the tooth fairy came to visit last night... no.  The girls didn't mention anything about it, so we figured they didn't know about that.  It would have been too hard to try to describe what it was, and we decided it really didn't matter.  They are learning so many new things right now that are so much more important!  Just as we are picking an choosing our battles right now, we are picking and choosing what they need to learn about! :)  Also, my record stands... I have yet to pull a tooth out for my kids!  The thought of it makes me shudder...