| Crib Notes: Tales of a Stay at Home Mom by Sarah, a one year old mom. This essay is best desribed as my version of "a day in the life of". One year olds get all the attention, and though this essay is about my one year old...it is also about me as a one year old mom (check me out!). Elijah and I are totally synced up in our awe and amazement of each other and the stuff around us. I notice things like microscopic debris and the complexity of pop-up books. I notice the sweet shape of his nose and his long eyelashes. He sinks his tiny fingers into my dreads and hoists himself up. The intensity of this relationship is major, even while I was pregnant...I know this now only because I am a mother. Perhaps my surrendering to this process of mothering renders some amnesty for those who, like me, stay at home and rediscover themselves and their world through the behaviours and actions of their toddler. Whatever the case may be, I think my exhaustion coupled with my want to uncomplicate my life makes my time with Elijah uniquely wonderful. Elijah has done it. He has graciously excused himself being docile, only to find ambulating more suitable for wreaking havok. He enjoys adult foods...of the comfort variety...macaroni and cheese, ham salad, sweet potatoes and bananas with peanut butter and yes, I sweat the apples.. And ahem, I must'nt forget he likes to binge on Kiko's crunchy round nuggets (DOG FOOD, YOU SICKO). Anyway, the dog's food is mostly protein so I try not to stress about it. No matter what, I spend the majority of my time pulling doo-dads out of his hands and keeping him out of the bathroom. In terms of favorites toys...I should say that anything not a toy, moreover my Tupperware and my Corning bake pan have become the muse of our toddler. He books it to the bathroom so he can bang his hands on the toilet or dilligently empty out the drawers while I round the corner barely touching the linoleum with Kiko close behind. I'm sure Curt can only imagine what the three of us are doing all day! I guess I have begun to realize how cool my stuff is...especially to the untrained eye. Elijah is persistently fascinated by super tiny items, particularly small pieces of paper, pennies, twisty ties and other small non-toy things. He chews on cardboard, plastic, his new shoes and has discovered that wet wipes are sort of all joined together and well, you know the rest. Can you say safety gates and door hinges?? In two shakes of a lambs tail, Elijah can get jammed up under my dresser. He scales the couch and his slide. I watch him as he stands up in his wagon waving cardboard tubes in the air. He walks from room to room....walking then accelerates to a jog, then to a full sprint before he crashes to the floor spread eagle with Kiko sniffing at his head. I have been teaching him to say to Kiko "good dog" and "stay". He has the words and phrases down pretty well. I can sort of detect the slight phonetic resemblance that will one day blossom into speech. He is such a good kid. Kiko likes to play with him. At the present, he is simply a play thing for the baby. Elijah climbs on him and punches him in the snout (I am working on this). The dog has extraordinary patience and has resorted, on countless occasions, to his only defense mechanism...intensely licking Elijah's face. They get along really well; which kinda means I did a good job raising my dog! Incidentally, I always sort of equated having Kiko to raising a child. I know now that raising a child is more like that responsibility multiplied many times! There are specific little skills that Elijah has to learn in order to be confident, independent (to some extent) and well-behaved. Similarly to Kiko, the latter is expected, however independence and confidence are a whole new ballgame for me. Example: It is important to child proof any home when a one year old is hanging out. But I try sometimes to let Elijah touch and 'gently' play with breakables (while supervised). I do this so that he can learn the difference between his Little Tykes toys and our toys and how to play with them differently. I don't think raising Elijah in a 'toddler homogenized' home is the best bet when learning balance; certainly balance in a young person might be a good place to start. Needless to say, my perception of mothering moves daily from fascination to instruction and nurture....this must be the instinctive nature of motherhood that I have read about. All of this time I spend with my son continues to impress on me the value of education. I have spent much time thinking about differing educational scenarios and weighing the pros and cons of each (standard education, montessori or homeschool). Through this thinking I recognize that learning is, of course, something that happens continually with a child. My philosophy of education, which I hope to impress on my child, is one that promotes learning after 3:00 pm, in the evenings and on the weekends. I am not joking about this! While I was a student there was some subconscious suggestion there that once the bell rings the time was mine and could be spend doing OTHER things. With Elijah, Curt and I both desire to shape his perspective of learning in a new way. We want him to be excited about learning...to learn to love it and to, in his own way, connect these ideas and concepts with the world he lives in. I know this seem more romantic than maybe practical, but at the end of the day our choice would have to be to homeschool Elijah: perhaps then we can have both the practical and romantic and eliminate much of the middle man. |
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