When Bluey was a baby, she learned to roll over early, and Chilli bragged about it to some other women in a mother's group (the mothers of Snickers, Coco, and Judo). However, later, Judo learns to sit up before Bluey, leading to a one-sided race between the two mothers over whose baby would walk first.
Once Bluey learns to sit up, Judo learns to crawl, so the Heeler parents try to teach Bluey to crawl too. First she rolled, then she "bum shuffled", then she crawled backwards. All three times, Chilli took baby Bluey to the doctor, but he said there was nothing wrong. Nana tried teaching Bluey to walk by putting olive oil on her knees so she couldn't crawl, but the parents hated it.
All of this made Chilli very down, but then Coco's mother Bella reassured her that, as a mother of nine herself, she knows that Chilli is "doing great". Eventually, Bluey learned to walk, while reaching towards Chilli in the kitchen.
This episode provides examples of:
- Acquired Situational Narcissism: Chilli admits that she was a little too proud of Bluey learning to roll over earlier than expected as a baby, to the point of becoming "a bit of a showoff". It also fueled her one-sided rivalry with Wendy over which of them could get their baby to walk first.
- Actually Pretty Funny: Bluey isn't happy to hear how Judo kept beating her in the titular "baby race", but she does find it funny how she would initially roll everywhere instead of crawling.
- Always Someone Better: Downplayed. It's shown that when Bluey and Judo were babies, Judo reached several developmental milestones before Bluey did (sitting upright, crawling, standing and walking), which made Chilli feel inadequate as a mother. However, Bella later assures Chilli that she's doing just fine, and Chilli learns it's more important for Bluey to develop at her own pace.
- Breaking the Fourth Wall: After Bluey points out that, despite Chilli's reassurances, she was in a race with Judo, Bingo clarifies "A baby race!" while looking at the camera.
- Book Ends: Towards the beginning of the story, Bella (who later turns out to be an experienced parent of nine kids) praises baby Bluey for being clever enough to roll over so early for her age. By the end of the story, it's Chilli's turn to wholeheartedly give baby Judo the same praise for learning to walk. The significance is, it not only reflects Chilli's emotional maturity to build baby Judo up just as Bella built up baby Bluey, but also that she's overcome her sense of competition and coming into her own role as an experienced parent.
- Call-Forward:
- A sleep-deprived Bandit tries to get baby Bluey to fall asleep by singing a kid-friendly version of "99 Bottles of Beer". He would do the exact same thing for her future self in "Sleepytime".
- When Chilli makes her first attempt to get Bluey to crawl, Bandit can be seen trying to figure out how to wear the baby carrier that would be prominently featured in "Dad Baby".
- Comically Missing the Point: When Chilli begins the story of when Bluey was a baby, Bingo wonders where she was in the story. To this, Chilli has to point out she wasn't even born yet. Adorably, Bingo thinks that just means she really was present in the story as an invisible entity, which Chilli does not argue with.
- Competition Freak: The start of the episode has Bluey asking her mom if she's better at monkey bars over her little sister, then if she's better than Judo. This is what leads to Chilli telling her story of how she too had a competitive streak when Bluey was in diapers.
- Deliberate Values Dissonance: Nana Chris' attempt to get Bluey to walk is to force her by dabbing olive oil onto her knees, which makes her slip and fall flat on the floor. Bandit even says how that tactic isn't considered legal anymore, and Chilli chalks it up to Nana's age when recounting the tale. Before Nana can introduce her second tactic of sprinkling some gravel on the floor, Bandit and Chilli have already taken Bluey and left.
- The Diaper Change: Bandit is shown changing baby Bluey at one point, and he gags in disgust over the smell.
- Dramatic Irony: A heartwarming variation. When Chilli narrates that Bluey eventually took her first steps in the kitchen, the latter wonders why she learned to walk there of all places. Even Chilli doesn't have the answer. The audience, on the other hand, witnesses why baby Bluey chose to walk in the kitchen: because she wanted to reach her mother. Bingo can only guess that maybe Bluey saw something in the kitchen that she wanted very much. While no one besides the audience will ever know the specific answer, it drives home that some things don't need an explanation to be meaningful.
- Everybody Has Standards: Despite wanting Bluey to walk as soon as possible at that point, Chilli isn't desperate enough to use Nana Chris's methods and gets Bluey out of there.
- Facepalm: Bluey does this when her mum tells her that she had learned to crawl backwards.
- Flat "What": This is Chilli's reaction after Bandit points out Nana putting olive oil on Bluey's knees "isn't legal anymore".
- Foregone Conclusion: Parodied. Chilli tells the story of Bluey learning how to walk. After learning how to roll, bum shuffle, and crawl backwards, Chilli gets demotivated, and feels like she's parenting Bluey all wrong. Towards the end, Bingo worriedly asks if Bluey ever learned how to walk.
- Foreshadowing: When Bandit notices Chilli isn't going to the mother's group after "losing" the baby race, we see Bluey's perspective of her trying to reach out towards her mother. This winds up being a tell concerning how Bluey started walking.
- Freudian Slip: After seeing baby Judo sitting upright for the first time and Wendy praising her for it, Chilli says she became determined to get baby Bluey to walk "before Judo's mum...I mean, Judo", revealing that she was developing a one-sided rivalry with Wendy over their babies' development.
- Frothy Mugs of Water: Bandit sings, "99 Bottles of Thing on the Wall".
- Joke of the Butt: Before she crawled, Bluey scooted around on her butt, referred to as "bum shuffling".
- Leaning on the Fourth Wall: When Bella tells Chilli she's doing great, she says it straight to the camera in a shot from Chilli's perspective - putting the parents likely watching in Chilli's shoes and making it feel like Bella is delivering the message straight to the viewer.
- Massive Numbered Siblings: Coco is revealed to have eight older siblings.
- Rule of Three: All three of Chilli's attempts to get baby Bluey to crawl end up with Bluey doing something different (rolling, "bum shuffling" and crawling backwards), and each time the doctor tells her there's nothing to worry about. Bluey also collides with the model skeleton in the doctor's office three times.
- Running Gag: While his wife tries to get their daughter to achieve a specific motor skill, Bandit is on the side trying to set up a baby contraption with some difficulty.
- Tears of Joy: Chilli sheds these after Bella assures her that she's doing great, and she sheds them again when Bluey walks to her for the first time.
- Whole Episode Flashback: Most of the episode is a series of flashbacks to when Bluey was a baby, with the framing device being Chilli telling her and Bingo how she took her first steps.
- You Are Better Than You Think You Are: Bella reveals to Chilli that she's had up to nine children at this point (counting the then baby Coco) and this seniority on parenthood has taught her a thing or two about raising kids. To this, she tells Chilli (who's been struggling with self-doubt over her ability to raise her first baby) something important:Bella: You're doing great.
