Reflection

Don't you find that you learn more about yourself when you learn to weather the changes with your baby? That happened with my recent reading of What to Expect: the Toddler Years.

Heidi Murkoff tells the story of a toddler who gets upset whenever the cracker has a piece broken off. Even a crack in the cracker can set off tirades. By listening to the quizzical compulsiveness about an intact cracker or biscuit, I thought I'm lucky to have my easygoing daughter. But wait a minute: isn't that desire for perfection (or at least, the perception of it) the same as mine? Though I have tried not to delete any less-than-perfect photograph from my digital camera after pressing the shutter, I cannot.

The next story is about a toddler who resists to any change - a new car seat, a new order in the bedtime routine, a new glasses on the mother. Whilst some toddlers just can't tolerate any changes, most kids as I know it, my daughter included, are at least less rigid. Before I congratulated myself for having a daughter who doesn't insist on the status quo, I felt an uneasy idea welling up inside me. No, that story isn't about my daughter; it's talking about me. I'm the one who craves ritual. While having ritualistic behaviour is age-appropriate for a toddler, I wonder if having precisely the same kind of muffin for lunch, during my whole year of overseas training, for instance, is a bit too inflexible. Just a bit.