Showing posts with label growing up. Show all posts
Showing posts with label growing up. Show all posts

Friday, May 4, 2012

Inbuilt obsolescence


While toddlerhood presents with many varied challenges, I have taken solace in the fact that we have reached a point in time where many things have become obsolete. Bittersweet as it is, I have moved on to the next stage of motherhood with the removal of many baby relics.

I think it is safe to say that around three years into this gig, I can regain some real estate in my house.

My top five space savers:
  1. The pram - I no longer need the biceps of Xena to wrestle the German engineered contraption into the boot. I have just realised that the short one has two working legs - and it's about time she used them.
  2. The nappy sack- one of those baby accessories that you felt that you just couldn't live without. The one that you pained over when selecting, making sure it color coordinated with the nursery…only to find that a Huggies box was far more practical, stuff the colour scheme.
  3. The change table – that raised mobile platform dedicated to all that is waste product.
  4. The nappy bag - the one accessory that I was really glad to see the back of...regaining the handbag option was so liberating. I could be a big girl again! An over the shoulder accessory that contained grown up things, as opposed to nappies, wipes, nursing pads, nappy cream etc etc.
  5. The toddler bed - progression from bassinette to cot to toddler bed was mostly predicated by necessity and polite medical advice. A head injury, an ambulance trip and 6 hours of neuro obs tend to prompt some serious re-thinking in terms of sleeping arrangements. Who would have thought that toddlers don't bounce?


To be honest, it was hard at first...those early pangs of 'my baby has grown up'. But then came the overwhelming feelings of freedom, space, maneuverability, independence...

I do have to keep myself in check though - I have successfully managed to un-encumber myself so much now, that I run the risk of throwing the baby out with the bath water...so to speak.


Saturday, January 22, 2011

Growing up...

From the moment a baby is born, time gathers momentum leaving you wondering where did it go. Milestones for which you yearn quickly pass…



Hand in hand with changes comes a degree of loss…not necessarily articulated, but felt deeply nonetheless.  Change is at times perceived, but not always expressed. It is something you can see and feel, but not necessarily touch.  It is like our shadow behind us, while at the same time walking with us.

The existentialist in me then begins to question, if we can’t touch it, taste it, see it, hear it - does it exist? Does it have to be tangible to be real?

While Maslow put our need for love, connectedness and belonging into a hierarchical framework, we all know that life has little meaning without it.

How do you touch love?  With a gentle stroke across a baby’s cheek…
How do you taste love?  With a kiss…
How do you see love? In the eyes which behold you...
How do you hear love? With the words ‘I love you’…

Is it tangible? Is it discernible? Is it perceptible?  Yes, yes and yes.

What one person perceives is another person’s blind spot.  It doesn’t mean its value is in anyway diminished.

Love is all encompassing and with that inevitably comes a sense of loss.

Embrace the moment, treasure the past and know that there will always be a tomorrow.