- Parenting can often be divided into a 50/50 ratio. You can look at many things from this 50/50. It’s kind of like a pros and cons thing, or perhaps a love/hate relationship. You love to see your baby laugh, you hate to hear them scream. It even starts before they’re born. You hate the annoying symptoms of pregnancy like nausea and acne, but you love feeling your baby move or hearing their heartbeat. You love telling people your pregnant or showing off your baby bump, but cringe at hemorrhoids and the thought of your vagina opening to the size of a mayonnaise jar to allow passage of a small human. You love it when your kid finally says Momma, but want to pull your hair out when they won’t stop. So it is also with milestones and growth and development. You can’t wait for them to walk, but then you need them to be still.
- When Chloe was a baby, it seemed like the newborn part lasted forever. Either she was a fussy baby, or I was an insecure Mommy. Probably both. Either way, she spent the first 3-4 months of her life crying, a lot. I didn’t think she’d ever get past that. After that it started to get fun. She would laugh and try to talk. I couldn’t wait for her to roll over. I would put her down for tummy time and encourage her to roll. Then I couldn’t wait for her to crawl. After that, I wanted her to walk. Last night, she wanted to take a bath “all by herself.” She washed her own hair and body, and just needed a little help from me rinsing. She’s taken to picking her own clothes out, and putting them on herself. Today she sat with a book of her older sisters’ and was reading it aloud (or so she thought). She brushes her teeth. Today when she put on her socks and shoes, I observed that they were on the right foot. I’m 50/50, see. My heart swells with pride over her accomplishments, the many new things she learns on a daily basis. But see, I’m also sad. I’m stunned and saddened over the fact that my little colicky, pooping all the time (when she wasn’t eating), butterball of a baby, now says, “It’s ok Momma. I can do it myself.”
- Bailey is 4 months old. I find this an extremely cruel joke, for I am absolutely certain that I just brought her home from the hospital last week. Unlike Chloe, Bailey sped through the newborn stage. I woke up and I had an infant capable of holding her head up, laughing, and cooing. She’s discovered her feet without my permission. Today I watched as she grabbed at toys hanging from her activity gym and played with them. She shouldn’t be ready to play with toys yet! When I put her on the floor on her back while I got groceries out of the jeep, I returned to find her on her stomach, raised up on her arms looking around like she was considering crawling. I’m 50/50 guys. My first thought was one of pride for her milestone accomplishment. My other thought was “Stop! This is going too fast!” I recall learning in Human Growth & Development about stages of development. I probably couldn’t name the stages for you now. One thing I always remembered from that study was that Erickson said you never went through a stage until you were ready. You couldn’t skip a stage. You had to go through each one, to be ready for the next. That being said, I can’t fathom Chloe dating. Thankfully, I don’t have to yet. I can handle each moment as it comes and grow with them.
That is all 🙂