Friday, April 26, 2013

Lessons of Parenting: Remember to Laugh

     Sometimes it’s all you CAN do.

     It was a weekday afternoon and Cam was at work. Tessa and I had been having a fairly uneventful day. She had finished eating and I was changing her. I had just taken off her dirty diaper and was cleaning her up when she let out a burp. I looked up to her face in time to see her spitting up. I grabbed a cloth and was wiping her face when I looked back down and saw that she was peeing AND pooping at the same time (remember she was diaperless at this point!). I had just started cleaning up THAT mess when, of course, the doorbell rang. I probably wouldn’t have answered it, but we were expecting a delivery so I wanted to get the door so we wouldn’t have to go pick up our package later. I put Tessa on a blanket on the floor (I incorrectly assumed it was safe to do so as I thought she had just fully emptied out both ends – rookie mistake) and went to get the door. I had to sign a couple things so it took a few minutes longer than expected, and when I got back upstairs, Tessa was laying in another puddle of pee on the floor. I looked at the spit up/pee/poop-covered change table, the pee-soaked blanket and floor, and my baby staring innocently up at me and started laughing.

     I’ll admit that this kind of reaction isn’t always typical for me. I’m one of those people who has a tendency to take things a little too seriously at times, and often get frustrated or annoyed if something doesn’t go the way I would like it to. And there have been many moments and even whole days sometimes where I've felt like doing this:



     For the most part, though, I’ve found that my immediate response to incidents like this one has been to just laugh. Mostly because there’s nothing else I CAN do, but also because I’ve realized that getting upset does absolutely nothing except ruin my day and rob me of enjoying these precious (although sometimes challenging and frustrating) moments with my baby. That’s not to say that I don’t still get annoyed or upset by things that happen during our days – I definitely do (and it very much depends on the kind of day we're having!). It’s not always easy to find the humor, especially on those days when it seems like everything is going wrong. I’ve learned though, that little inconveniences like a messy change table or a baby who needs an extra bath are just that – inconveniences, not tragedies.

     Besides, how could you really be upset at a face like this??
 

1 comment:

  1. I like your line "inconveniences - not tragedies"....applies to a LOT of things in life, doesn't it?
    Sounds like quite the episode. Hopefully whatever you had to go sign for was worth it!
    Tessa's looking sweet as ever...

    ReplyDelete

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