So the monster has started to use "Det?" / "Dat?" with pointing and upward intonation to ask what things are. He smiles or laughs delightedly when I answer.
I thought this was a bit soon, so I looked it up, apparently it usually starts around 21 months, so that's kinda cool. I know it doesn't matter in the grand scheme of things, but I always feel proud about these things - proud of him, of course, but also a little proud of Mr. Wolfman and myself, for making his environment one that's conducive to learning.
My parents came for a short visit with my brother last night. Of course a lot of the visit was them saying to my brother, "You were doing _____ at his age," and similar. When I pointed out the monster's new question, my mom just kinda shrugged and said, "Yeah," not in an intentionally mean way, but in a all babies do that kind of way.
No mention of what I was doing at the monster's age. No questions for Mr. Wolfman about what he was doing or what milestones he'd reached. Before, the only things that mattered were the made up similarities between my monster and my brother, but now it seems like those aren't enough* and we're in some sort of fucked up competition.
Newsflash, guys: I don't care if my brother was more advanced at the same age. I give literally no shits. Since the ages at which he first did various things change with every retelling of the story, I kind of suspect he wasn't. But maybe he was. WHO THE FUCK CARES?
My monster is a baby now. My brother is an adult with his own shit going on - and while I understand the desire to wax nostalgic, my son is not - and never will be - in competition with yours. For anything. Likewise, I am not in competition with you over who the better parent is. That's not a question I need answered. Mr. Wolfman and I do the best we can, we give 100% and we have a happy, healthy, intelligent and active baby to show for it. That is what matters to us.
*perhaps because they were tenuous at best when the monster was fresh, and now that he's a monstrous bear child who basically only shares his ethnicity with my brother, they're downright laughable.
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