"My Child Will Never..."

I think all parents are guilty of uttering this at one point or another. My mom hated the idea of girls being forced to play with dolls... but as these things usually go... I happened to be kind of obsessed with Cabbage Patch Dolls. And so she found herself happily purchasing them year after year (I ended up with 10 of these cute dimpled friends).

Some of my convictions I’ve managed to stick to so far - but I barely have gotten 2 months of real, actual parenting under my belt and despite my promises not to, we’ve already caved:

ughhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh. (banging my head against the table)

Just like every other baby out there, Aliyah has really been wanting new stimulation and fun things to look at to keep her interest. We’ve done pretty good with little wooden toys, soft stuffed animals, and rattles.

When my mom and I picked this up before she was born, I thought that I would use the nature sounds and soft toys, but avoid the blinking lights and crazy songs. We had it set-up downstairs and hadn't used it much. However, when we were at our neighbor's house and Aliyah was placed in their baby's swing with lights & music, she smiled bigger and longer than I had ever seen ... SO... as soon as we got home this was sitting in the middle of our living room.

A loud, plastic-y play gym and a complete eyesore - but as soon as I saw Aliyah laying underneath it - kicking her legs, smiling, and staring at all the toys and lights in wonder - my disgust melted away and before I knew it I was lying on the floor next to her - pointing at the lights, singing along with the tunes and encouraging her to grab the brightly colored toys.

I’m quickly learning that I can still have my ideals but parenthood is about flexibility - about learning on the fly - about being willing to change easily when your reality doesn’t meet your preconceived ideals.

So the eye-sore play gym will remain right in the middle of our living room because it makes my love dove supremely happy - and that trumps everything I will ever put on my “My Child Will Never” list.