Thursday, May 9, 2013

the good and the bad


Kids are crazy.  They change every five seconds and I've only been parenting 18 months.  Just imagine what's ahead of me!

Between teething, growth spurts, sudden likes/dislikes, tantrums, sicknesses ... you can wake up a lot of days thinking, where did my sweet baby go?  Will I ever see him again?

When the hard days hit, it's really easy to forget the practically perfect ones.

This past week or so has been practically perfect and I wanted to document it.

Duke has been sleeping 14 hours each night, eating really well all day (which can be hit and miss these days in toddler land), playing happily and contently at home and in many new places, taking great 2 hour naps, obeying quickly, and laughing a lot.  It just seems like all is right in his little world.  He's been an absolute joy.

But flash forward to those really hard days.  You know, when you're counting down the minutes until bedtime.

What is it about those tough days anyway?  On a day when Duke seems to just pick at his food, I find myself thinking, he will never eat well again.  Or when he seems exceptionally fussy, I think, he will never stop throwing tantrums for as long as I live.  But none of that is true.  He goes back and forth every day, just like I do.

I know not everyone has a blog and not everyone loves writing in a journal, but for this one thing, I'd find something.  I've found it really helpful to record both the good and the bad days of this parenting gig.

Why the bad days?  Remembering the bad days helps us do two things.  One, it enables us to relate with people in all stages.  We can be real.  When I see an exhausted first-time mom of a newborn, I can immediately go back to that and jump in with her.  I don't have to say, "Well, 18 month olds are really fun so you just wait!"  Maybe for some that's an encouragement, but when I was a new mom, I wanted people to get me.  Remembering the hard parts allows us to help people.  Two, remembering the bad days makes those wonderful days even better.  We're able to appreciate the easy days so much more.

On the flip side of that, remembering the good days is necessary too.  If we truly take in those days when everything just seems to be going well, we'll be in a better place when the hard days come.  Remembering the good stuff helps us brush off the bad.  

Right now, I'm just soaking in the sweet 18 month-ness of Duke.  I'm loving this age!  One thing I can say with confidence about this whole being a mom thing is this:  the good always outweighs the bad.

1 comment:

  1. These are such great words, Claire! I hope I will do as good of a job as you recording both the good and the bad. There are definitely reasons for both!

    ReplyDelete

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