Get used to it, then change

You would think that I would have learned by now that the little dude is developing and growing in noticeable increments all the time, but I am still caught off-guard by it. Every few weeks, I watch him doing something and I wonder ‘when did he get tall enough to do that?’. I’ve been here the whole time. This shouldn’t surprise me, but when he’s standing beside the dining room table and he’s now able to comfortably colour the papers on the table, I’m dumbfounded.

The other areas of his growth also keep surprising me. Today I think I’ve finally figured a part of that out. This week, I’ve been more tired than normal, and I’ve been exasperated by Max’s demands on me. The wife was run ragged the entire weekend by the non-stop boy. I realize now that he’s got more energy to spend than he did a few weeks ago, and his cognitive abilities have spiked as well. translation: he’s bored by the same old regular routine and he was looking for more challenging fare. I think today was the apex of this energy surplus (at least I hope so). He was up at 5:45Am with his very tired mom, and he had a full and busy day right up until his bedtime of 7:45PM. He also has a bit of a cough too, so this marathon day of fun and excitement is quite the accomplishment.

We finished off the day by going to dinner at Auntie Jenn’s house. It was a belated holiday gathering, moved to toady so that everyone could get together after a tumultuous December and January. Of course, this meant some deferred presents for Max, and that boy loves to get gifts, so he had a fine time. He’s actually developed an interest in being the center of attention, which is a neat change from being shy in big groups of people. He offered/forced the party goers to kiss the Toy Story Woody doll he had brought with him, and everyone obliged him. The power of a three-year old.

Anyway, back to my point (and I do have one). The tricky nature of parenting is this cycle of acclimatization and change. As adults, we love routine and dependable predictability, but our developing little people are still morphing and transforming at the drop of a hat. If you get too attached to the way things used to be, or the way you think they should be, you’ll end up butting heads with your kids and driving yourself crazy.  Go with the flow, baby.