Wednesday, June 23, 2010

Motherhood Myths

Time for me to expose another myth of motherhood...this one definitely took me by surprise even though it makes total sense:


Monumental Achievements Don't Happen Overnight


I'm the first to admit that I am a sentimentalist even when my family isn't involved. So it would seem to make sense for me to have invested early on in a baby book. I am ashamed to admit that the only baby book that I have even remotely written anything down in is a board book that is really meant for your baby to look at. And by 'look at' I mean gnaw on and chew to bits.


But I actually don't feel too bad about it, because the truth is I couldn't possible give you specific dates for when Little G accomplished things no more than I could tell you what his first word was...or even if he has uttered his first word for that matter.

A few weeks ago we were turning the pages in the Going to Bed book by Sandra Boynton and Little G pointed at all of the hippos in the tub and looked at me and said, "BA!". But he hasn't done it since...so who knows. Then a couple of days ago we were at a friends house and I was about to give him some banana and he bounced up and down in his chair and said, "nana-nana-nana"...which isn't a word, but clearly shows recognition.

Right?

Maybe?

Oh who am I kidding...'nana' isn't a word...and he doesn't do it consistently...so that clearly can count as the baby book entry. The baby book clearly states that it is looking for 'First Word'...not first babble or even first mumble.

Of course, the baby book also wants a specific day for when Little G sat up...but do they mean sat-up-with-assistance-from-mommy? Sat-up-without-slumping-over-after-10-seconds? Or perhaps they mean the day we find him in the crib just sitting there...I mean, he has been sitting up for months...but he hasn't sat up yet.

See?

Confusing.

And really, I just don't have the time to sit around tracking his every accomplishment...anywhere other than my own head, at least.

So one day, when he is old and has kids of his own and wants to know (or, who are we kidding, his spouse wants to know) when he actually hit whatever milestone, I will look at him and smile and tell him 'at some point in 2010'. That oughta be specific enough, right?

4 comments:

  1. Nana totally counts! That's how kids say banana. AND it was in context. I was there. See? You have a witness. :)

    G+3

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  2. 2010 works for me!

    Good post!! I guess I didn't realize babies don't just suddenly start saying their first word or taking their first step (how many steps would they need to make on their own for it to be considered walking?)... good to know for when the time comes for me to be a mama.

    Also, I think 'nana' counts as well!

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  3. You know, I thought I was being so damned clever with my blog design - I made it my whole self! Snapshots+Suburbs=Photos on a clothes line! Genius! Original? Damn, I'm not as creative as I like to think.

    This post is great. I love when other people articulate things I hadn't even thought about but are absolutely true.

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  4. Oh see, Brenna,you are totally way more clever than I am. Because for me it was "oooo,-I-like-polaroids" + "can't-think-of-anything-else" = "some-sort-of-pseudo-cool-blog-header-that-kind-of-could-be-related-to-there-being-any-if-not-other-pieces-of-me".

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