The Stages

This week I have been focusing on the developmental stages of the early years of childhood. There are always pros and cons to every age and stage with children. Babies are so innocent, soft, and cuddly, but they can't interact the way kids can. Kids are such a blast to have around. Their exchanges can be an endless source of entertainment and the more independent they get the less demanding it is on the parent. However, that innocence you had when they were babies is gone and in it's place is a feisty little attitude.

Either way, it's such a delightfully fascinating thing to experience a child learning how to navigate through life.

Z is at the "I can do it by myself" stage

This takes a lot of patience on my end because I know that I could get him out of his car seat so much faster. I could do a much more thorough job at brushing his teeth and there wouldn't be a puddle of water on the floor if he would just let me refill his cup for him! But that's the thing about parenting, it's not about me. I am trying to learn the balance of guiding and intervening.

SJ is at the changing by the minute stage

She's grabs a hold of anything within reach and examines it with about the same amount of concentration and attention to detail as a forensic scientist! I love watching her take it all in, and although she is on the brink of being mobile I am going to enjoy every last minute of this stage that she is in now.

As I said at the beginning of the week, sometimes you just want to fast forward to the next thing, other times you want to pause and keep your precious little one small and innocent forever. But there is no fast forward, rewind, or pause in life, which only leaves one thing left...

PLAY!