Specialty item?

The More Things Change the Less They Stay the Same

One of the things about parenthood fascinating me this morning is the constant state of learning and evolution that is involved. I'm not talking about all the cool stuff that Max is learning how to do, or how he's suddenly become quite the adept little parrot. I mean that every time I think I've found a comfortable place in my life, all of a sudden I realize that something has become discordant and needs to change again.

What might be appropriate one week is suddenly not the next. The catalyst for this train of thought this morning was Max in the pantry / laundry room. We kept a baby gate up to keep him out of there, because I didn't feel like dealing with fights over what he can and cannot play with. Today I realized that we probably don't need it there anymore. While he may get into mischief it won't be the nightmare that it would have been two months ago. That's when I saw the old basket for washing baby stuff in the dishwasher. While I have used it to wash other small items this year, I certainly don't need it with any regularity. There is no reason for it to sit within arm's reach on the counter. It is time for it to be put away, in the pantry, where we don't need a baby gate any more.

This morning I am sitting downstairs relishing this gorgeous cup of tea while typing these words and Max is upstairs playing with something or other (probably not breaking anything I care about) while Jeff takes his shower. I can hear Max's happy chatting and I know that he is having a good time. His independent play was another change to get used to. Sometimes he wants a playmate and other times I need to stay out of the way and let him do his thing, it's a balancing act but I'm getting better at reading his cues.

As a creature of habit that abhors change I've found this constant change to be unnerving at times, but it shows no signs of stopping, so I best get used to it.