What I learn from babies

So -- I have a 9-month old baby girl. And, keeping up with her is taking all my energy. I have so much admiration for parents of more than one child. That said, it is endlessly fascinating to watch her navigate and negotiate her physical surroundings. She loves to pull herself to stand now, and will try to do so using ANYthing she deems appropriate -- a shelf, table, toy, person, drawer knob... Sometimes, thwarted, she cries... out of frustration, I guess. Other times, she is more patient with herself, or at least, seems completely unfazed by multiple failures at standing attempts.

As I observe her efforts (and rush to her aid to prevent or kiss the inevitable bumps along the way), I am reminded just how easily we adults are defeated by defeat itself. How many times have I said: "I really can't draw. I stopped taking Art after 6th grade."? (For the record -- I really CANNOT draw...) My point is that, we adults, and, sadly, many children too, put limits on ourselves. Sure, some of us are more "gifted" than others in certain areas (more about *that* in future posts, I'm sure), but, IMHO, I think more often than not, we are simply too afraid of failure to even TRY! So, I'm going to keep trying to learn new things, starting today!

I really want to get better and more confident at getting my baby on my back. I have a long woven wrap, which I have been experimenting with for months... I will continue to practice getting her up there... It's harder that I imagined... my baby likes to wiggle!

As my baby gets her bearings in the world, I am learning to get mine too.

doing things vs. getting stuff done

Sometimes I feel like I go through my day doing a LOT of things. I do laundry, return e-mails, pick some berries, do more laundry, change several diapers, vacuum... But, at the end of the day, what did I accomplish? How do we measure a day's accomplishments? I used to measure the worth of a day by how much violin I practiced -- really. It was a source of pride for me if I'd practiced at least 5 hours. Now, just to get an hour in (usually in small chunks) feels like a huge accomplishment.

I'm trying to measure the worth of a day by its smaller accomplishments: spending time with my daughter: reading, playing, singing, taking a walk, eading a book for ME, playing my violin, preparing my group classes doing work for my teaching job.

This is a new way to look at my daily life, and it will likely evolve.

Accordingly, I will check off another accomplishment for today (on top of the list of household chores, socializing (!!) and playing with my daughter: making baby food from scratch. A wise person once said: "small steps". Small steps indeed.

PS: One thing I want to do MORE of is IMPROVISE on my violin. But, finding the time to do this will have to be a topic for a future post.

Life = brainstorming

This is my second try at the blogging thing... Life for me is a constant brainstorming session. I LOVE coming up with ideas... don't always manage to follow through, however.