Wiley's Wisdom

It isn’t the first time this has happened to me lately. One minute I am minding my own business, usually lounging in one of my favorite places in my forever home. The next minute it hits me. Things are going to change an awful lot around here. Again.

I remember thinking I knew what to expect before dear baby Carter came along. I listened to my dear forever parents, who felt the same. We all thought we were so smart back then. That was before we learned a simple truth I’ve come to understand is akin to parenting in general. 

There is no rule book. What you need to know is not online or even embedded in things that friends and family tell you did or did not work for them. Instead, it is in every single day you’re around this new little person. He or she writes their own version of everything you think you know.

So this time I can’t help but wonder. Do I at least know that this time around? That everything will most likely be different than I think it will be? That knowledge counts right? Even if it doesn’t, I know one thing for sure. Times are a changing around here in the next couple of months.

It hit me today when we all enjoyed Carter’s modified bedtime routine together as a family. It isn’t that unlike how it has been since the day he was born. There’s still the bedtime snack and bathtime and the nakie run and the music. It’s still something mom and dad do together as I keep the group company. We’ve added a brief viewing of dear Carter’s favorite TV show, Curious George, into the mix, which is when it happened to me tonight.

We were all together in the living room watching as George engaged in his usual antics. Mom and dad were sitting together on the floor with Carter, who was chowing down a delicious concoction of blueberries, strawberries and chopped pear. I saw a special kind of glimmer in his eyes as Carter looked around at the group of us. It was quick, but my heart swelled when I saw a smile cross his face as he made sure we were all accounted for.

Little does he know that it’s all going to change in a few short weeks. There will be another little person added to the mix, and I have no idea how exactly that will affect him. Or me, to be honest. But after what happened when Carter first came home, I realize that is okay. Because it’s one thing to think you’re ready. Experience has taught me that is not very wise. Now I know sometimes it is better to just acknowledge change is coming rather than spend all kinds of emotional energy figuring out how to be ready for it. Maybe that’s really the best way to be ready, by not really being ready at all.