Babies Are Humans Too

I’m not a baby expert.

I do not pretend to have all the wisdom in the world.

These are just some thoughts I have learned in my adventures since having a baby.

My biggest philosophy in life: Treat others the way that you would want to be treated. This is also the golden rule, I think? And with these words in mind is how I’ve chosen to live my life. Especially in a working environment.

I’m pretty bad-ass at customer service because I have high standards, and I treat my guests the same way I want to be treated. So, now that my job is being Joy’s mom, I use those same standards. To some, this may seem obvious; treat your baby the same way that you would want to be treated. To others, you may think I’m crazy. “The babies opinions don’t matter, you tell them what they want and how to live.” “Babies don’t have opinions yet, you form those opinions.” But honestly, I have to remind myself everyday that babies are humans too! So in this post maybe you’ll learn something, maybe you’ll just think I’m CooCoo and not even read the whole thing, but ultimately this is a reminder for myself. On those days when Joy refuses to nap, or won’t eat the green beans she loved eating yesterday, babies are humans too.

Long ago, we used to rock Joy to sleep. She was once a very good sleeper and I basically just had to be near her and she would zonk out. And then one day, she fought it. She didn’t want to close her eyes, she just wanted to see everything that was going on and touch and feel all the things. So many things were new to her and sleep was not one of the things she wanted. But I could also see that she was getting super cranky and was obviously tried. So I learned some fun acrobatic ways to get her to sleep. But it was exhausting! But, she was sleeping and that was all that mattered at the time. And then one day, Mike was (from my view-point) just holding her and she fell asleep.

“What in the actual heck, how did you do that!” (Seriously, those were my words, maybe a little more vulgar)

He said, so nonchalantly, “I just let her get situated, let her get comfy on me, let her have free reign of my lap. She was comfy and fell asleep.” NO rocking, NO acrobatics, NO humming and white noise. How did you know that what she wanted, I asked, He said (and this I’ll never forget) “Babies are humans too. I could tell she wasn’t comfortable so I just let her squirm and figure it out.” Duh.

So this my friends is a reminder, that sometimes even though Dr. Google says that 8 month old babies should be sleeping for 11 hours at night and taking 2-3 at least one hour naps a day, doesn’t mean that your baby is going to do that every day. Sometimes they just aren’t tired. Sometimes they don’t want to play or read a book when you want to play or read a book. Sometimes they don’t want to be held by a stranger/anyone but mommy. Sometimes they need to adjust and observe their surrounding before smiling and laughing again. Sometimes they just want their mommy and that’s OK!

Also remember that they can tell when you are mad or sad and they just want to help, in the only way they know how. Because just like most other humans, babies have their own personalities, and they may not be just like the other babies. We are not robots and we do not have to conform.

How do you let your child be themselves?