Cocktail chatter
We went to a fun costume party on Saturday night and we met a pediatrician who told us some very funny stories but perhaps the most memorable was about a mother who said she was starting to feel ostracized because she was still breastfeeding her eight year old daughter. I’m still giggling about that one. But seriously, being a mother is a constant reminder to summon all the patience you can find in your body and then remember all of what you have read – he is not hitting you in the face because he is bad, he needs to learn how to deal with anger and frustration; he is not throwing the block you put on his tower across the room because he hates you, he is learning how to play with blocks AND people; he is not spitting the water back out from his sippy cup for any other reason that he can and he doesn’t understand consequences (like a soaking wet shirt).
Last night, T and I were sitting in the living room trying to get a grip, a reality check that we have started the terrible twos and that there is no turning back. On a daily basis we are being confronted with new intonations of the word no, as well as new reasons to use the word. All of it is surprising to us who just months ago had a pretty sweet boy who occasionally was cranky.
But I read this quote and I had to smile because the pediatrician’s wife told me point blank at the party to be present in their lives, it goes by so quickly and ain’t that the truth:
We’ve had bad luck with our kids – they’ve all grown up. ~Christopher Morley