October 31, 2011

opinions

I'm a very opinionated person. When I know what I want, I'm not one to change my mind, and I almost always go with my gut instinct when it comes to decision making. I've been like for as long as I can remember. I don't hang around in a store for long, trying to decide whether I want to buy something or not. I simply make the decision or leave. I only tried on about 5 or 6 wedding dresses because I knew what I wanted as soon as it was on. And when it comes to parenting, I'm no different.

While I appreciate that everyone has different parenting styles, I don't really care to know about them in great depth. I enjoy talking with my mum, sister-in-law, and girlfriends who are parents, but beyond that, I'm not interested in what everyone else has to say. That may sound harsh, but there are just so many opinions out there, that you have to draw the line somewhere! Cal and I just parent the way our instincts tell us to, and I'm proud of that.

When I was pregnant with Lady M, about to be a first-time mum, every other mother out there had an opinion and wanted to tell me how to parent, how to birth, how to do everything. Horror stories about deliveries abounded, and were certainly never asked for! People wanted to tell you what to buy and what not to buy, how to deal with sleep, eating, nursing, and anything else they could think of. And more than anything, people seemed to find it very important to tell you "oh, you're going to be so tired!".

Yes, though I hadn't had a child yet, I assumed being tired was part of the game. I think the piece of 'advice' that bothered me most was when people would say "get your sleep now!". Well, how the hell is that going to help me three weeks from now, after I deliver a child and have to start raising it?! So, since becoming a parent, and understanding the sleepless nights in a different way, I have made it a priority never to suggest that a parent-to-be 'get their sleep now'.

However, the one thing I found many parents telling me in my pre-child days was 'they'll grow up so fast'. Well, that just may be the one thing I have repeated.

In less than a week, Lady A will be 6 months old, and Lady M will be celebrating her 3rd birthday, and I really keep questioning 'where has the time gone?'. Three years have zipped by in the blink of an eye, and my little Lady M has gone from infant to toddler, and is somehow now a little girl, who has interesting conversations with me on a daily basis. She has strong opinions (not sure where she gets that!), and a never-ending interest in everything around her.

My little Lady A has gone from helpless infant, to a sweet little baby who reacts to everything, smiles every time she hears her big sister's name, has found her voice, and is on the verge of crawling. So, in fact, they do grow up so fast.

I promise I'll never hear myself telling a parent-to-be to get their sleep, or offering unsolicited details about child delivery that people simply don't need to know. I promise not to be one of those more experienced parents who try to tell the newbie horror stories to scare them before their wee one arrives, or how they should sleep train, feed or nurse their child. However, you may just hear me saying that it all goes by in a flash, because three years have never passed so quickly in my life, until now.

October 18, 2011

i went to iceland and took my rollerskates

I've decided to start fueling Lady M's interest in traveling at an early age. I've been lucky to travel a fair bit, and I hope that one day my kids will want to travel to fabulous, far off places too. In fact, the list of countries I still want to visit is enormous, and I look forward to the day when we can travel as a family and explore the world together.

Until then, we'll learn about new places right here at home. We're always pulling a new book off her bookshelf and over the last couple of weeks we've been enjoying looking at a children's atlas that was given to me at one of my baby showers. The book is awesome; great, colourful pictures and simple descriptions of people, places and things, just whetting her appetite for learning about the world.

The first time we looked at it, I pointed out a few key countries for her reference -

  • Canada, where we live, of course; 
  • Sweden, where I have lived; 
  • England where my Dad was born; 
  • India, where my grandparents were born;  
  • Australia where Cal has traveled and 
  • Costa Rica & Nicaragua where Cal and I honeymooned, just so we could really hop all across the map. 
She likes to tell me that she's been to each of these places with Cal and I which I think is great. I'd love to know what sort of travel memories her busy little imagination has conjured up!

Then, for a little spin around North America, we also look at Victoria and Daytona Beach, places Lady M has visited. Of course her concept of how vast the world is is quite limited, but we have fun talking about each place and I enjoy listening to her (often imagined) recollection of her adventures.

Right now she likes to point to each of the key places listed, and then finds new, colourful countries to point at. The other day when we were looking at the atlas, she put her finger on a country and said "I've been there!". I said, "that's Iceland", to which she replied, "yeah, Iceland - I took my rollerskates there and went all over".

Why shouldn't she want to rollerskate across Iceland, or think she already has? I love the imagination children have and hope many of these things really happen for her down the road.

In fact, I hope one day we can roller skate in Iceland together.