Sage Mama

Two things first.

Fellow bloggers are likely to know of Christine’s inspiring journey to Mozambique with Save the Children ahead of the global vaccines summit on June 13th in London. In the USA and UK vaccinations are available to children as a matter of course but worldwide, one in five children do not receive vaccinations of any kind. Sign this petition now and urge world leaders to change this.

Next, one of my nearest and dearest friends has become a mommy for the first time and LLC now has new little gal pal! Congratulations and much love to M&J and welcome to the world Baby M!

Reflecting on this new, next generation addition to my old circle of friends, I’m struck with the realization that my own baby is not such a baby baby anymore. If you had seen her charging through the park today, curls flying, gabbering away in her own tongue and descending on a most patient dog flanked by small friends like flies to honey, you would say “aha!,” madam toddler has arrived.

And I embrace it. We’re in a new stage of walking, early talking and constant discovery (well, that’s each stage of this parenting journey, right?); it is exciting, sometimes challenging, always heartening. And here’s the bit about my own self discovery, and thus the title of this post.

I’ve discovered an invaluable tidbit in my life as a mama. Sure, I have crazy days and sure I often make mistakes but one thing I’ve learned to do, been forced to do, is to “tackle the moment” and not always try to be ten steps ahead of the game. For me, this was a true eureka.

Back when pregnant and on early maternity leave I remember walking through Sainsbury’s trying to anticipate LLC’s daily feeding / sleeping pattern....yes, I was doing that and she hadn’t even arrived. Then there was the whole “when will I put LLC down for a nap in her crib” mental digest, prematurely in her first month, and then the “how will I cope with weaning” worries I had about dropping milk feeds and adding solids a couple months shy of our weaning start date.

In each of these instances, I created myself a handy little game plan that when push came to shove and the said event arrived in reality, never played out according to my script. And in the moment, I deal with things, and in the moment, I don’t care about the script. I just seemed to have this nutty inclination to keep writing them. But I’m pleased to say that 16 months in, LLC has helped me put this tendency to bed (most of the time).

So other mothers out there, if you too share these tendencies, my advice is to go with the flow, stick to dealing with the here and now and don’t over-think! You will share stories and gather learning as you go, you will adjust and adapt to your child when the time is right, you will save yourself valuable head space.
Clearly I am an often clueless, regularly making mistakes, always learning mama. But in this realisation of myself, I am a Sage Mama. Hear me roooaaar!