Sunday, May 28, 2006
milestone!
OK, obviously my passionate discourse on milestones was not very interesting to others... so here is a real milestone... The first time she stuck her toes in her mouth!
Tuesday, May 16, 2006
Milestones
For the past few weeks, I have been thinking a lot about milestones.
When you are raising children, there are many milestones that are well understood and celebrated by all. But in real life, we need to recognize that in reality, there are two types of milestones. There are the kinds that move towards the child's independence, and give us a sense that the child is growing and progressing. Then there are the more subtle, but in many ways far more important milestones of the parents regaining snippets of their lives back.
As an example, when a child first sits up by themselves, on one hand it is exciting and a required step towards walking and such. But does it really gain the parents anything? Well, maybe a little, now the parent can theoretically leave the child alone a bit more and they can sit up and amuse themselves.
We had an important but seldom celebrated milestone a little while ago. Roxanne officially left the children's food supply chain. All of a sudden in one fell swoop, pumps, vitamins, and restricted diet were gone. Think about spending 15 months not being able to drink. I am not talking boilermakers here, just the ability to have a beer of glass of wine when you want it. Talk about getting some independence back!
The next big one (the way we see it) will be the day we get our room back! (don't ask, too small a house!) then when we can start using a babysitter with confidence (this one has nothing to do with the kids and everything to do with both the parents and the finding of said babysitter)
So the next time you think of a milestone with a child (or two) think of the ones that allow some small bit of sanity to creep into their parents life.
When you are raising children, there are many milestones that are well understood and celebrated by all. But in real life, we need to recognize that in reality, there are two types of milestones. There are the kinds that move towards the child's independence, and give us a sense that the child is growing and progressing. Then there are the more subtle, but in many ways far more important milestones of the parents regaining snippets of their lives back.
As an example, when a child first sits up by themselves, on one hand it is exciting and a required step towards walking and such. But does it really gain the parents anything? Well, maybe a little, now the parent can theoretically leave the child alone a bit more and they can sit up and amuse themselves.
We had an important but seldom celebrated milestone a little while ago. Roxanne officially left the children's food supply chain. All of a sudden in one fell swoop, pumps, vitamins, and restricted diet were gone. Think about spending 15 months not being able to drink. I am not talking boilermakers here, just the ability to have a beer of glass of wine when you want it. Talk about getting some independence back!
The next big one (the way we see it) will be the day we get our room back! (don't ask, too small a house!) then when we can start using a babysitter with confidence (this one has nothing to do with the kids and everything to do with both the parents and the finding of said babysitter)
So the next time you think of a milestone with a child (or two) think of the ones that allow some small bit of sanity to creep into their parents life.
Thursday, May 11, 2006
Thursday, May 04, 2006
Darn it, you do not eat the toys!
Why is it that anything that a baby can reach goes in their mouth?
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