Small Victories

Small Victories

As a new parent you find joy in the small victories. After your baby is delivered they tell you that if he goes 48 hours without poo-ing, it could lead to complications such as jaundice. Even now (at over 6 months), it is common to overhear the grandparents discussing Daniel’s defecation schedule with Lindsay. “Wow twice today…..that is so awesome, he didn’t go at all yesterday and I hardly slept a wink last night”. The first time he rolled onto his back, Lindsay had briefly walked off and returned to see him stuck looking at the ceiling. Rolling from his back to his stomach seemed like a much bigger feat when it finally happened. It requires a twisting motion followed by one foot pushing from a support basis (usually the floor). This is where you have to start paying attention. The days of laying him on the bed and walking off are over. He can roll indefinitely or at least until a large object prohibits it. An example of this would be the wall of his play-pen. The screen will catch him half roll and he will stare at me with wonder while in a frozen-like state before reversing his roll and then repeating the whole thing. This is the evolution of development. Once we adapt to the hazards characteristic to a given stage of development, he adapts new abilities which lead to new hazards. I believe this last through adulthood until eventually your child negotiates their place in your will with the understanding that you will eventually be placed in a good nursing home, (one that has happy hour, gambling, and season passes to the state’s big college team).

Yesterday Daniel’s first tooth started to come through his bottom gum. Since he was 2 months old everyone thought he was teething. His general process for all things within reaching distance went something like this:
1: I see an object and focus my eyes on it. This could be anything from mommy’s hair, a dirty diaper or my Blackberry.
2: When they least expect it I will quickly reach forward and grasp it.
3: Once I have grasped it they will try to take it away from me, but I will never let go. There are snapping turtles who would blush at the sheer determination and willpower of a babies grip.
4: Once I have secured the item I must put it in my mouth. It just feels so right, so natural, I just belongs there.
5: Once it’s in my mouth my drooling glands kick into hyperdrive and I coat the item in a ‘protective’ layer of slime.
6: With the object of my affection now safely coated I return it to nature with a quick toss. The drool provides the item with an organic lubrication which will allow it to easily slide across the floor and thus gather every possible germ within a 10 ft radius.
7: Look for a new item.

As it turns out, life is really a series of small victories. We may recall the major victories more fondly or frequently, but rarely is the case that these moments aren’t comprised of several smaller achievements that were completed with the end in mind, e.g. your graduation ceremony versus all the exams leading up to it. I can’t say that I’m overly anxious for him to start walking. Initially I wanted him to start walking as soon as possible, but I really don’t know that there is any benefit to that mindset. I try to be the parent that you set out to be before you have children, supportive and nurturing yet structured. Growing up, it always seemed like everyone knew someone who had a parent like this; the kind of parent who bought their child the new album by their favorite band even though the music itself was garbage. Lindsay’s childhood experience was more along these lines where as mine was more focused on structure. Perhaps between the two of us we can manage to provide an environment which promotes individuality based on the principles we value, an environment that we can look back on and be proud of, an environment that that promoted, celebrated and cherished each small victory.