What I know today that I didn't know last week

I have learned a lot this week. There has been new learning, learning added to things already known, and clarity added to some things previously fuzzy.

1. Sometimes losers are the biggest winners.

Losing stinks, but everyone should lose at something every now and again. Iron Bowls, midnight thumb wrestling to see who wakes with the baby, church league softball games. There are lessons learned in losing. There is pride swallowed, there is humility gained. Losing builds character. Losing is purposeful.

 

 I am Baker's biggest cheerleader. I will always be his biggest fan. I am his biggest supporter. And while I will always push him to be his very best, he will lose sometimes. He will struggle. He will have to try harder. He will have to work longer. These losses along the way make each victory so much sweeter.

2. Thanksgiving is a holiday to be celebrated one Thursday in November, thanksgiving is an attitude to be had each day of the year.

This year I am especially grateful. For God's grace. For my husband's love. For my son's adoration. For my family's support. For my friends' encouragement. For my home's shelter. For my boss's leadership. For coffee's comfort. For forgiveness. For protection. For clothes. For these things and so much more.

 

3. Everything is better with those you love, except going to the bathroom.

 

I love being around people. Love it. I love talking with others. Sharing with others. Laughing with others. Eating with others. Doing life with others. But some nameless eighteen month old, who has recently learned to open doors, has decided that ALL OF LIFE SHOULD BE EXPERIENCED TOGETHER. For the love of all things clean and sanitary and the teensy little bit of sanity I have in tact, let's keep this one certain activity a one man, ahem woman, show.

 

4. I am the mom I swore I would never be. And that's just the way I like it.

 

After an awfully long Monday, after a wonderful holiday, I did the unthinkable and scheduled Baker's eighteen month shots. What was I thinking?

 

We waited a short forever. I became the mother I, only six short months ago, scoffed at. Baker crawled on the waiting room floor, climbed in every chair, read every book, touched every germ infested toy. I could feel the stares. I could hear the feverish strokes of the iPhone keyboard as mothers shared of the abhorrent mother who was letting her child out of her purely pristine lap to play on the floor.

 

After breaking all the rules, we saw the doctor. She watched Baker perform all of his tricks, sign all of his signs, point to all of his body parts, sing all of his songs. And she beamed. Right there in Room 2, she confided that she had waited all day for Baker Bell's appointment. She said, although she wasn't supposed to say, that Baker was her favorite patient. And, who was I to argue? She is a doctor. And doctors know everything.

 

Baker is in the 75th percentile for height and 50th percentile for weight, and pretty perfectly perfect.

 

5. Just when you think life is just right sweet, it gets a little sweeter.

 

I get to do life with these people. It's pretty sweet.