EVERYTHING
FOR YOUR FAMILY
KID
QUIPS
During last July’s 5.8 earthquake, 3-year-old Bronwyn told her 1-year-old sister, “We’re going for a wiggle.” READ MORE
First Years (0-2)
|
||||
|
The minute a baby enters your life, time seems to stand still, and a second later it clicks into overdrive. The supply of formula and diapers you thought would last months is exhausted in a week. Naps are over in nanoseconds. Your red-faced newborn seems to grow before your eyes, and you wake up one morning (who am I kidding, you weren’t asleep) with a smiling, cooing 2-month old. By eight weeks, chances are good you will have decoded the signals your baby sends when hungry, sleepy, in need of a diaper change and in need of some TLC. You’ve fallen into a rhythm of feeding and diapering, and while rest for parents at least is still illusive, your baby is probably on a more predictable sleep schedule. Just as you begin to think you’ve got the hang of it, you hear a wail from the nursery and humbly rush back to the bedside table where hidden amongst the burp cloths and half-empty bottles is a mini library of childcare books. Dr. Karp says soothe your enraged little bundle with swaddling and swinging. Dr. Weissbluth encourages parents to let their determined anti-nappers learn to soothe themselves. My baby is screaming, my nerves are screaming, and the experts can’t get it together! I’ve been on the job for two months, and I still have moments when I’d jump at the chance to jump on a plane to Tahiti. But just as I begin to fantasize about sipping adult beverages on a beach in the middle of the South Pacific, my baby lifts the corner of his lips in a crooked little smile and I’m slipping out of my bikini and into my spit-up stained sweats once again. By now, my child knows just how to win me over. He makes the most adorable sounds. He laughs and gurgles and arches his eyebrows in astonished expressions. What free time I have is spent staring into his dark blue eyes, falling more and more in love as the days go by. If I can snap out of it long enough to remember what I read at midnight the night before in one of those oh-so-helpful books, I get to work stimulating my baby’s mind, body and spirit. He must have time on his tummy in order to develop the neck strength needed to hold his huge noggin up without support. I should spend time conversing with him in Babyese and English, so that he learns to properly vocalize his thoughts. And to assure he grows up confident and well-adjusted, he needs plenty of kissing and cuddling (this is the fun part). I’m the kind of person who enjoys a challenge, and it’s a good thing. Nothing so far in my life not my work experience or college education or years on the stage has come close to preparing me for the daily battle of domesticity I wage as a stay-at-home mom. Sometimes I yearn for those power suit, morning commute, regular paycheck days; then, I think of what I’d be missing. Time passes so quickly, and there’s nothing I wouldn’t give for one more day with Dylan. S. Danyelle Knight is a regular contributor to Inland Empire Family Magazine. |
||||
RSS Subscribe
Digg This ArticleSEARCH THE SITE
