Friday, February 29, 2008

Not a Baby Any More

In my head, I know the babe is not a babe any more. She's a toddler. This became obvious today when we attended a make up sign language/music class in Arlington (we've missed two classes and I want to make sure we get our money's worth!).

The class was for children up to 18 months old. The babe was one of only 2 toddlers in the room (the rest were babies sitting calmly in their Mother's laps). My daughter and her new buddy were into everything, wouldn't sit down, and were generally in everyone's business. They were super cute, but I could see how other Moms may not think it's "cute" that my daughter is trying to "share" (take) their child's drum.

It was amusing to watch her, but challenging to try and balance discipline with learning in a group environment. When I was pregnant I had a lot of time to read about being pregnant and the first few months of a child's life. I haven't had a chance to read about this "stage" and I'm not really sure what I should be doing with a 15 month old.

Group activities expose your child to other kids (which is great for the 'stay at home with Mom' kinda kids), but they also expose you to other parents. And it's tough to parent in front of other parents. There's always the concern that they may be better at it than you. Or they may be more up tight than you and be secretly judging you. Who knows. Perhaps I am worrying more than I need to. Kids will be kids (until your kid gets pushed over by another kid, which just happened in the class held before our Wednesday session).

Despite these little issues, I'm pretty thrilled we signed up for a few activities. It's nice to have an official place to be other than a doctor's appointment!

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

I really enjoy your blog! I have a five year old, and lots of memories come floating back while reading your blogs. My second babe at the moment is 9 months and it is fun to see how I have changed as a mom the second time around. p.s. I am a 24/7 mom living in the Netherlands.