What you know you want; what you don't even know you want...

I know what my sanity goals are in parenting. These are the things we look at as light at the end of the tunnel. We treasure these moments, but there are things we want to see the end of. Diapers are a good example. Toddlers are super cute. Toddler diapers are not. We co-sleep so a big one for us was getting Adrian to spend most of his nights in his own room. Today I realized there might be parenting milestones I haven't even thought of.

Someone I know, today, was boasting that her son sleeps at night with no night light. The whole second floor is dark, no lights on. It makes me wonder what else is around the bend.

Savor every moment!

Adust your expectations

And your day will flow more smoothly. There are a lot of things we have no control over. Even more when you have children. Anyone that has been on a walk with Adrian knows that a city block is not a distance to be measured or even time, but more of an exploration.
Usually this leads to some frustrating struggles. "Hey we really have to get going. Pick up the pace or I am gonna pick you up."
Today we were walking home from the park. It was a failed attempt at a first trip of the year. Since everything had just melted, It was more of a lake with play structures sitting out of it. Its about 5 blocks away. On the way home, Auntie couldn't wait, she needed to get home. I was tromping ahead with Walter in the ergo impatiently waiting for Adrian and being vocal about it. A few minutes into it, I thought, "what's my hurry. Walter is asleep. We don't need to rush home." I stopped harassing Adrian. I was immediately able to start enjoying the trip from his perspective. Even though there was a new puddle about every eight feet. Everyone was special enough to deserve a pouncing. It probably took us over 40 minutes to get home, but I wasn't frustrated and Adrian had a blast.
There are not many times when we have the opportunity to take our time like this, but I would not have even thought about it had I not asked myself what the rush was in getting home. I get so immersed in the high speed go go go pace that it is there with me even when I don't need it. I may not frequently be able to adjust my expectations, but I should always be able to ask if its possible.

Sid the Science Kid

Some folks may disagree, but there's a lot of good in Sid. At first glance I liked the show because of its Muppet energy. Today I looked at it as a teacher. I think a lot of people could learn from the show. Those people being teachers. I was watching Susie (I think that's her name) the teacher. She engages her students to be scientist. What that means for kids in early grades is experiment, hypothesize, observe, write, and draw. Some teachers call it sciencing. Taking the subject matter and king a verb out of it. Susie guides her students through experiments. She listens to their observations and since they are the students observations, she does not interrupt them to correct them.
Kids can learn from the show and they can enjoy. I think the real usefulness of the show is for the grown ups.