Wisest Words I've Read in a Long Time

We got back this afternoon from spending the weekend in Lyon. We had a lovely time. D was great, seemed to really like being out and about for the most part.

I have updates and pictures to share before long, but for right now I just wanted to write a short post about something that I found as I was catching up on Google Reader. It's from Ask Moxie, in response to a question about a 1 year old who was waking up at night all over again. Here's the bit:

"Here's my musing: I thought it was so bizarre to get to one year, and then feel like my child was in such flux. It made 365 days seem completely arbitrary. You think, when your baby's an infant, that a year actually means something. To me it just seems like a big period of flux in all sorts of areas."(link)

Thank you, Moxie. Thank you. I think you are the only one that talks about infants in a way that seems to actually apply to my own. I have been baffled at how a baby of 4, 5, 6 months, in so many other ways so much more advanced than a newborn, could still be waking and eating as often as he did back then, and how his "routine" (hah!) and daily needs seem to change on a daily/weekly/monthly basis. It almost makes me mad now when I think of all the books I've read that all claim that babies are "supposed to" stop waking at night to feed by 3-6 months, how babies are "supposed to", well, anything, and maybe I just have a baby that's far from the average range of how things are supposed to happen, but everything I read about infant sleep/eating habits? So does not seem to apply to my child.

And thus it was so refreshing to read those words above, it was like the sky opened up and light streamed down. I think I need to print them out and paste them where I can see them often, as a reminder that life will be a steady stream of unsteadiness and change for the next 6 months (and beyond, I imagine) and to stop waiting for this or that to happen because who knows if it will or not. So what if D is still eating every 2 hours during the day? So what if he takes 5+ catnaps instead of 2-3 longer ones? It seems to work for him, and at the moment it's still working for me as well, and until one of those things changes I will try to do what he needs of me and take each day (and night) as it comes.

So much for this being a short, quick post.