Forget the milestones. It's the little things that really matter.

Milestones. Every parent monitors them. And if you go back to the very definition of the term, you’ll see why.

Via Wikipedia, with my personal highlighted bits for importance: “A milestone is one of a series of numbered markers placed along a road or boundary at intervals of one mile or occasionally, parts of a mile. Milestones are installed to provide reference points along the road. This can be used to reassure travellers that the proper path is being followed, and to indicate either distance travelled or the remaining distance to a destination.”

As a first-time dad, I watched Alice’s milestones closely. Just this week I posted about how she’s no longer a little girl. But there are a host of other things I’ve tracked:

• When did she first talk and what was her first word?
• What was her poo like [yep, this happens - more than you would imagine]?
• How did she handle school for the first time?
• When did she learn to crawl or walk or climb?

These are things that I thought mattered the most. But I’ve come to realise that these aren’t what make her who she is. They’re important, but they’re not what I love about her.

The little things matter most.

It’s the way she copies me, the way she kicks her legs excitedly when I get home, the way she chases the dogs around the lounge [even when they run away the whole time]. It's the way she sprawls out when she sleeps.

It’s the way she has learnt to cuddle and snuggle and make the “mwaaah” sound when she gives kisses. It’s the way she goes sssssss in my ear when I ask her to tell me a secret. It’s the games we plan on her changing mat, the way she pulls close to me for protection when she’s unsure about someone she’s meeting for the first time, knowing that I’ll protect her. It's the way she holds my hand when we walk.

It’s her laugh. Her smile. Her high-5s. The funny faces she pulls.

It’s the way she doesn’t fuss if she falls over. It’s the way she so trusts my arms in the swimming pool, and how much she loves water in general. It’s how she makes me take her to look for birds every morning before school [and how she flaps her arms when she sees one].

Milestones are great, but it’s the little things I take the most joy in as a dad. It’s the little things that makes her who she is. And it’s the little things that makes me love Alice utterly endlessly.

This dad journey is wonderful. And it’s the little things that make it so.