Sunday, September 16, 2012

Patience

Crayons make waiting more fun for Mommies too.

In the process of teaching Eloise patience I am learning to be more patient too. The slow and thoughtful pace of a toddler as they learn to do things for themselves really forces you to take a deep breath and just watch as they figure it out.

The time it took for Eloise to walk made me realize that it's not always as easy as 'go'. She was very cautious about taking her first steps - even with our constant encouragement - but now that she has walking figured out she is hard to keep up with. Eloise's insistence of feeding herself is an ongoing test of patience. It is slow, messy and often unsuccessful, but she is so proud of herself when she manages to get the spoon in her mouth and graciously offers bites to Chris and I. Meal times are very drawn out but watching her process how to make the spoon do what she wants is impressive.

It's hard to teach children to be patient when we are so used to getting everything as soon as now. Waiting in lineups, for food to arrive at restaurants or our turn on the swings at the park are all good exercises of restraint, but in this age of technology I even find myself lacking the patience to wait a few extra minutes.

Potty training is the next challenge. I know that Eloise will go when she is ready but it's hard not to want her to be ready now. At this point she has all the tools and encouragement to go (I even made up a potty song), it's just a matter of waiting. My patience is required.

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