I get a lot of self-satisfaction and vindication seeing my children grow up. You see, as they grow older, little quirks I identified in their personalities when they were just newborns have proven to be true. As they get years old, they verbalize what I knew when they were mere weeks old.
Take Kaitlyn, for example. Kaitlyn is now nine years old. When Kaitlyn was a wee newborn, I realized she hated sleeping with socks on. Not just that she preferred to have bare feet, she didn’t like socks on. She hated socks. If you have ever dared present a baby in public with bare feet, you know how that was received. “Tell your mom you need socks on.” I mean, really? The passive aggressive comments a young mother gets will forever be in my top five biggest pet peeves. You aren’t kidding anyone. We both know a newborn can’t talk. If you have a problem with the way I parent, let’s just talk about it or keep it to yourself.
Anyway…
Today, as the week goes on, Kaitlyn accumulates a sock pile next to her bed. I recently asked her why. “I don’t know, Mom. I just can’t sleep with socks on my feet. It irks me really bad.” What’s that you say? You hate sleeping in socks? I know! I have always known! (But I was mostly wondering why the pile on the floor…).
Brinley is another fine example. When she was a newborn, I quickly realized that she slept best with freshly washed linens. As a newborn, this meant her swaddle blanket. She also had a (affiliate link) Merino sleep sack …that cost somewhere around $140. Yep. As much as a crib mattress. I haven’t worn a $140 anything. Well, maybe a coat. Okay, a coat. The sleep sack was magical, though. So magical, and her need for fresh bedding so great, that I strongly considered getting a second $100 sleep sack. People! I didn’t. Frugality won. She took a nap or two each week without the magic sleep blanket while I washed it.
This need for freshly washed blankets reigns today. Every few days, she wants me to wash her blankets. I do it once a week, but I am asked much more often than that. You can still strongly smell the detergent smell on her blanket and she asks for it to be washed because it “stinks.”
What is my point?
My point is to trust your momstincts. Your “gut.” That feeling that tells you what your child likes, wants, and needs. That when that family member makes passive-aggressive comments about how you are doing it all wrong, you don’t give credence to the comments. You live in confidence that you know your child and that your child does indeed prefer it that way. You know what is best for that individual child.
Some day, you too have the satisfaction of being proven right by your children. You might like that so much that you smile whenever you see a pile of socks on the floor, just like I do.
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