When Biscuit was younger, I really struggled to not compare him to other babies his age and even those little charts that say what a baby of each age should be doing or not doing.
It was never a one-up kind of thing, where my kid had to be better than all the other kids. It was more about my own insecurities as a mother, and making sure that I was helping him to be where he needed to be physically, intellectually and emotionally. I wanted to make sure that he was learning and growing in every aspect of his life.
And he has learned and grown.
Biscuit is a smart boy with a great sense of humor. He's also very loving and sensitive to other people's feelings. And one of my favorite things about him is his ability to laugh at himself. I hope he keeps that quality alive and well for the rest of his life. It will serve him well.
This afternoon, Biscuit said, "Mom, I think I'll be a mad-ician."
"A what?" I asked him.
"You know, someone who does magic," he said. He paused for a few seconds, then he started laughing.
"What's so funny?" I asked him.
"Mom, I'm so silly," he said. "If I can do magic, I would be magician, not a mad-ician." And he laughed and laughed. "It's J sound, not a D sound."
And he didn't care that I was laughing at him, either. He knew it was funny, and he didn't feel at all self-conscious about saying something incorrectly then laughing at himself.
Moving Biscuit to a new day care was scary for me. I had such confidence in the old day care for so long, and with good reason. They were really good to him the first three years of his life. But when I suspected that he wasn't flourishing there as I thought he should be, I assumed I was just overthinking it, and that I was probably overreacting. I probably left him there longer than I should have, but I guess I thought I was betraying the care he had been given so far.
It's amazing how many times I've told friends and other mothers to trust their gut when they're making decisions. And then I don't follow my own advice.
But when I finally knew without a doubt that it was time for Biscuit to go somewhere else, I felt a great sense of relief. Mainly just because I had made the decision. And that was even before we found a new place to send him.
Biscuit is flourishing at his new day care. He's only been going there for two months, and I've seen real progress in just that short amount of time.
Before he left the old day care, he still hadn't decided which hand to write with. In the past month at his new day care, he has learned to write his first name. He's also learned some basic math skills and is recognizing three-digit numbers. We were walking through a home improvement store the other day, and Biscuit said to Jeff, "Dad, that lawn mower costs 169." He didn't associated it with dollars, but just recognizing the number is something new.
Biscuit has learned the Hokey-Pokey. He can sing "Yankee Doodle." He has tried all kinds of new foods. He has learned about Scotland. And of course he has new friends. His teachers are really nice, too. His current teacher is mad because when they get too many kids in his class (anything more than 10 kids compared to anything more than 20 at his old day care), they send Biscuit to the pre-K class. And she makes a fuss about them taking Biscuit away.
So I guess I say all of this to make the point that I need to heed my own advice and trust my gut. I know that baby better than anyone on this Earth, so who better to know what's best for him than me?
Now someone be sure to remind me of that the next time I have to make a decision.
No comments:
Post a Comment