Tuesday, January 11, 2011

Learning from Daniel

Welcome to the January Carnival of Natural Parenting: Learning from children
This post was written for inclusion in the monthly Carnival of Natural Parenting hosted by Hobo Mama and Code Name: Mama. This month our participants have shared the many lessons their children have taught them. Please read to the end to find a list of links to the other carnival participants.


Six days old
My son Daniel teaches me so much about life. He teaches me what it is to experience little moments of joy throughout the day. He provokes me to smile, and laugh, and play every day. He shows me what it's like to discover things about the world: the excitement over the taste and texture of a new food, the surprise of hearing someone else sneeze for the first time, the bliss of petting our kitties.

He reminds me that time goes by so fast, so I'd better enjoy each moment to the fullest. I look at him sometimes and can't believe how incredibly fast his babyhood is passing by. It's cliché to say, but some days it feels like he was born yesterday, and I just don't know where these months have gone. Daniel gives me perspective: the mundane tasks of life can wait sometimuy es, because there are so many fun things to experience through my child's eyes.

Seven months plus four days old
Daniel needs parents who will listen to him, who will be willing to learn everything he has to teach. Every day, Daniel teaches me how to be the best mother for him, and I'm so very grateful to him for that. He lets me know when something is wrong, and I do my best to help him feel better. He responds to my gentleness, to my compassion, to my patience, and to my unconditional love. Some days are really hard; some days I want to quit. But then Daniel smiles at me, or he makes himself laugh, or he falls asleep after one of his crying times and looks so peaceful and vulnerable, so precious and small, that I simply melt inside.

Daniel teaches me so much. I hope I can always be open to learning.


Carnival of Natural Parenting -- Hobo Mama and Code Name: MamaVisit Hobo Mama and Code Name: Mama to find out how you can participate in the next Carnival of Natural Parenting!
Please take time to read the submissions by the other carnival participants:
(This list will be live and updated by afternoon January 11 with all the carnival links.)

13 comments:

  1. Oh! So sweet, and so perceptive. Your line about the surprise of hearing someone sneeze brought home to me how very new these little ones are. I hope we can keep opening our awareness to see through their eyes!

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  2. Beautiful! <3 Thank you so much for sharing.

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  3. More than anything, Kieran is teaching me to be gentle. In a world so lacking in gentleness, isn't it amazing how well it works with children? Why can't we all practice it with each other? Thank you for sharing, Amy!

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  4. what beautiful photos and words - thank you for sharing such a heart-felt post in the carnival.

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  5. Very beautiful. I love the line "how to be the best mother for him" because the "experts" so often give parenting advice to apply to all children and it just doesn't work that way. Each one is different, even my identical twins, and need to be parented differently. And that is one of the most important things we learn from our children.

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  6. Aw! That is such a sweet post! I ditto everything Lauren said.

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  7. Time does go by fast! It's amazing how our children teach us how to be the best mother we can, if only we really listen. Beautiful post, thanks for sharing!

    And, omg, Daniel has the longest eyelashes! Gorgeous.

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  8. This was such a beautiful post. I feel exactly the same way you do when I look at the world through Little Man's eyes as well. Children are a wonderful lens to clear the smudges from our view.

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  9. I love reading your posts! I never thought I would feel like it is going by so fast and I am starting to realize that the baby days are numbered! Soon they're little boys running around! Ahhhh, I want to put this on hold! Thanks for sharing

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  10. That first photo just melts my heart! It does just fly by, doesn't it? It seems like just yesterday I was spending my days wearing a sleeping newborn on my chest and now I had a running toddler!

    I just loved this post and you will always be learning from your little one. Just sit back and take it all in whenever you can because once he's up and running like mine it just seems to go by faster and faster!

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  11. I love the photos! So precious.

    Your post is so very sweet, and speaks to me. Especially your last line, "I hope I can always be open to learning."

    I touched on that topic in my post for the carnival, too.

    I love how you say your son teaches you to be the best mother for him. So true!

    Blessings,
    Stacy

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