Have you ever missed a milestone?

22nd March 2012: Sometimes being a working mum is a bit tough.

As much as I love working at Heart, spending my mornings with Jez and Producer Adrian, I do occasionally experience a spot of The Mother Guilt at not being with my nearly-21 month-old daughter.

Yesterday was just such a day.

The thing is, my toddler is of the non-toddling variety. She hasn’t yet learned to put one foot in front of the other on her own. We’ve been waiting for the day she will walk for ages now. Every day she gets a bit better at walking holding, say, just one hand instead of two. I’ve been getting excited, thinking those first “proper” steps are just around the corner. 

But then she went and took them without me. I got a text from the childminder saying, “We’re really excited. Freya just took four steps on her own!”

At first I was elated. Finally, she’s walking! But then I felt a bit disappointed. Why did she have to go and take those first steps without me, when I wasn’t there to see them?!

Jez didn’t understand what all the fuss was about. He thought I was being a drama queen about the whole thing. So I asked everyone else what they thought about it. And the response was HUGE. You are such a lovely lot.

On the Heart Wiltshire Facebook page, Sharon made me laugh when she wrote:

Just wait for those other great moments... Like when your daughter grabs a shop manaquin by the chest to see how it feels!

And then I laughed again when I read Natasha’s comment:

I missed my little girls first wee wee on the potty. Never did I think I would be so upset over a potty!!

Celia’s comment also cheered me up. Turns out my daughter’s not the only one to “play” her mother…

I was a stay at home Mum and tried to get my daughter walking every day. One Sunday I did a car boot sale and her Dad had her. When he came down to visit the car boot sale she was walking. I was a bit gutted too but very happy.

Obviously, since I received that text to tell me my non-toddling toddler had taken some steps on her own, I’ve been attempting to get her to recreate the scene. I’ve had my phone constantly set to “camera” mode to capture those first steps.

Here’s what I’ve come up with so far…

Back to the drawing board then.

But surely it doesn’t count if I didn’t see it?! What do you think?