Parenting

My older daughter is a new stay-at-home mom with our 9-month-old grandson, Nolan. She wrote this entry on her LiveJournal page, and I thought she captured so well what’s it like to be a new mommy and watch your baby become a person. She said I could copy it and share it, so here it is.

He crawls. He stands. He eats crunchy things all by himself. He wears 12-18 months clothes. He laughs at silly things. He laughs at not silly things. He turns pages. He points for more. He bites. He smiles at the phone. He chases the cats. He opens drawers. He climbs up stairs. He pushes buttons. He turns dials. He crashed into my lap to sit. He wraps his arms around my neck.

He’s growing so fast my heart can’t keep up. My baby is 9 months old … three more months and I’ll have a toddler.

I know I say this every time I make an update about him, but I can’t believe how fast time is flying. The year is sailing by and he’s moving right along with it. It’s amazing that just a month can turn a baby from an army crawler into a fully mobile creature with razor-sharp teeth and a taste for mango puffs. Light sockets become more interesting toys than toys. Books need to come off of shelves. Cats need to be chased. Doors need to be opened. And mommies become personal jumgle gyms with built-in tickle spots and fleshy grip handles.

I’m feeling more and more like a mom. I’m becoming more than just a snack bar. We play. We laugh. We talk. We interact. I do more than just change him and feed him and burp him. I tell him “no.” I cuddle him when he’s sick. I limit TV time. I make choices about the food he eats. I point to pictures and tell him they have words to match. I hold out my arms for him to reach for. I let him cry. I try not reward pouting or fits … not that a 9-month-old has many. I make him interact with other children. I make him stick to his nap times.

These past 9 months have flown and I’ve learned so much about being a stay-at-home mom … and being the wife of a hardworking and amazing father like Jason. I’m lucky. I’m blessed.

This is Cathy again. And you can see why I feel so lucky and blessed that my children have grown into such awe-inspiring adults. And it was completely a matter of luck, believe me. Nolan, my sweet precious grandson, you are in good hands.

New Year Countdown

Happy New Year! Hope everybody’s 2009 got off to a great start. It’s the seventh day of Cathy’s New Year Countdown and we’re going on to Jan. 6, or Twelfth Night, mainly because I have a real problem packing it all up and letting the holidays go. I mean, why not celebrate as long as possible? (Or at least, as long as your neighbors will tolerate your yard decor. ) My husband and I kept the party going with a rockin’ New Year’s Eve on Wednesday night. He’s a newspaper sports editor, and as usual, he was at the office until after midnight as the paper went to press, so like the good wife I am — no, really! — I hung out with him there. We watched the ball drop on the copy-desk TV and toasted each other and the New Year with sparkling grape juice. This was one of the first New Year’s Eve we didn’t go out or at least have a family party, but, strangely enough, our daughters (one married and a mom and the other a college senior) seemed to have better things to do than hang out with the old folks, so we were on our own. And I kind of liked it! Check back tomorrow for day no. 8 in Cathy’s New Year Countdown for a great tip on finding inspiration for 2009.