Parenthood is a swirling, confusing maelstrom of sudden and inexplicable changes. It’s like going to war: no matter how much training and practice you have beforehand, you’re stunned and overwhelmed as soon as the real shooting starts. I always thought that the advice being given by parenting classes, books and other parents seemed unnecessarily vague, but now I know why they were that way. Every baby is different, and they change their stripes every few hours when they’re very young. Nap time was noon today? Tomorrow it will be 2PM. Or 11AM. Or there won’t be any nap at all.
This erratic lifestyle really clashed with my need for stability and predictability in the early days of life with Max, and my stress was very high. Now that he’s older and I’m more relaxed, I’ve found a good comfort zone between getting things done and not sweating the small stuff. I can finally roll into bed after a tough day and think to myself “this won’t last forever, so there’s no need to get worked up”. And amazingly, it works. And now, I’m off to shampoo the carpets ( a casuality of our first attempts at potty training).
Chris Loblaw, Author 