I’ve officially reached one of those Parental milestones … the one where you’re beaming with pride and thinking, I have the best kid in the whole wide Universe that has ever existed, since all parents think that about their child.

FOH smiled today. Not a fakey smile. Not a I have some serious gas kind of smile. No, no People. This was legit. This was a, oh hey I know you and because I think you’re so damn cool as a Mama, kind of smile.

TC, naturally, did not believe me. He insisted over and over again on the phone that, babies don’t smile at four weeks so get over it!

Nevermind that Maman told me that I was smiling at a month — he seems to have forgotten this minor detail, or blocked it from his memory. Possibly both.

I knew he was wrong and I was right and I would set out to prove this point at our annual Memorial Day Weekend cookout.

This is the cookout where every year I do nothing except eat. TC yells at me and threatens to cut me off. I continue to eat and tune him out. This year I had a real excuse as to not helping — FOH. Babies. I tell ya, they do come in handy at times.

Soon after I arrived and TC was holding him, he looked up and gave him one big ‘ol whopping smile.

There! Ah HA. Take that, grandpa.

This was a huge turning point for me. FOH, too. But probably more so for me. It represented a turning point, a symbolic realization that beyond the crying, the constant feedings, my boobs and sleep deprivation — here is this precious precious little human. With his own personality. He is already his own person and that smile proved it to me.

It made every single hard moment I’ve had worth it. More than worth it. And more importantly, it seemed like he was saying, see how good life is, mom? Look at all this happiness! And candy!

We can’t forget about the candy now. I’m hoping it’s his first word.