So much of the enjoyment having a newborn is the anticipation of what's to come. And while these next steps and milestones are to be celebrated, they also bring a certain amount of ruefulness- of innocence and freedom lost. But, as good parents, we encourage our children to take these steps- which invariably will make the process of caring for the child more challenging.
One of the nice things when babies are new is you can lay them on a blanket, and play with them and watch them kick and coo and look around for some time, seeing as though they pretty are much immobile. But you can't just leave them there, you're supposed to give them tummy-time, to build their strength in their arms and necks, eventually leading to rolling over onto their backs. Well, being as though our little lady never was a fan of tummy-time to begin with, she taught herself to roll over real quick. And that was exciting! Our little girl rolled over onto her back!! Well, in the weeks that followed my wife and I tried and tried to get her roll from her back to her tummy. Definitely a harder task for her to achieve- but we knew she could do it! And do it she did... three cheers! But, somewhere in the process though she forgot that she had the ability to roll from her tummy to her back-- but she remembers how much she dislikes tummy-time-- and now proceeds to lay on her tummy and moan and cry and face-plant into the blanket, until one of us finally gives in and helps her flip back over. At which point she rolls right back onto her tummy... screaming ensues. Rinse and repeat. It's not really a fun game, for her nor us.
Same will go for crawling. Doubly so. And then walking. Oh we'll egg her on, and then somewhere between chasing her across the living room and chasing her down a city street, we'll have that What were we thinking we should have just kept her strapped into the swing forever moment. But why fret about what's not yet happened?
There are things though, on a daily basis, where similar moments are experienced- on a smaller scale mind you, but still with the careful-what-you-wish-for bent to them. Such as: She hasn't pooped in a couple days... I wish she'd just poop so we know she's okay. And BOOM. She's okay. In fact she's gonna be okay three times on that day. Or even: Why she is making so much so much noise in her crib? Why won't she go to sleep? And then when it suddenly stops, it's- "We better go check on her." And it's a race down the hallway to check on her, only to find her sleeping peacefully- looking as though she's been asleep for hours.
I'm learning that one of the more challenging things about being a parent is staying in the moment. You want your kid to progress. To achieve. Why else do we hold a four month old over our laps saying, "Look at you standing! What a big girl!" Of course we can say- oh it's important to build her leg strength up... but really really we're picturing the day our little girl is standing on her own, walking, unintentionally pushing her to grow up. But the next second she's crying because she's hungry, or reacting to a new sound bringing us right back into the present. It's her unconscious way of reminding us there will be plenty of time for growing up- let's enjoy the simplicity while it lasts.
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