• I am tempted to intervene every time he falls or fails but appreciate he is learning
The wise folks of yesteryear said, “When it rains, it pours.” My baby has come off a long stretch of illnesses, regressions and teething side-effects. I found myself every Sunday night holding my breath as I manifested an 'easy' week ahead, but the easy doesn't come.
Mothering is not easy. It's more than a full-time job and more taxing than any physical activity on the planet. Yes, it's beautiful; yes, we were built for it; but it's also hard. It's not wrong to say it or feel overwhelmed.
My husband says I have been complaining a lot recently. I told him I am sharing my experiences, if they sound tiresome that is because I've had a tiring week. I have plenty of good moments that I share with him, it's just that sometimes the hard days are more than the others.
Being a mother means being in the frontline of an unpredictable firing squad. Every day comes with new challenges, but as we learn to combat these hardships, we learn something new about ourselves.
Over the last nine months, I have had to teach myself a virtue that I greatly lacked before having a baby. Patience. Patience has always been my weakness. Patience was something I was not born with. I was quick to flare up and even quicker to react.
As my son approached the cheeky toddler milestones, I have especially learnt to control myself and my hasty reactions. Because in those naughty things he does are some beautiful moments I would not have otherwise.
For instance, his new favourite game is obstacle-crawl, where he would find the tallest thing around to climb over and crawl away. Most of the time I am that obstacle. I yelp in pain as he puts all this weight on the softest parts of my body so that he can climb over, but just before he gets over to the other side he gives me the cheesiest, cutest smile with his little crooked teeth that he is so proud of.
As he learns to explore the new world unfolding before every crawl, he also gets to expose himself to the dangers that we adults are aware of. He loves to play with things that are generally unsafe for him, which keeps me on my toes at every waking moment. However, I also can't help but be in awe as I watch him explore the world before him.
I am tempted to intervene every time he falls or fails, but whenever I hold myself back and let him take charge, I get to see a determined young fellow take bold steps into a brave new world.