I so enjoy seeing the pictures that you post of your littles – new babies, toddler-types, energetic preschoolers, and young scholars of all ages involved in some of their favorite pursuits. When I see what your children are doing, it takes me back to the days when we were raising the little dears that became our now-grown-up favorite humans. Nostalgia can be really fun, but so can anticipation!
As I write this, we are waiting for news (literally any minute) that the birth of our first grandchild is only hours away – as evidenced by the onset of labor. Collin and Danae are expecting a daughter, as I have mentioned before. We have always known that they will be lovely parents, but they have demonstrated that to the max in the past weeks.
Danae takes excellent care of herself and her little one (in utero). Despite that, she received a diagnosis of preeclampsia a few weeks ago and has undergone lots of monitoring and checking. I’ll spare you many of the details, but let me just say that she’s been a total champ!
They’ve been told that she would need to be admitted to the hospital early for her labor to be induced; they’ve been told specifically (more than once) when this would happen – and those plans haven’t been implemented, so “our” little bun is still in the oven, which is likely a very good thing.
My point is this: Parents are called upon to demonstrate great flexibility – even before their children are born. This is regularly true for both birth parents and adoptive parents. (BTW - Congratulations to the sweet Larsen family!)
This recent “flexibility training” for Danae and Collin will be most helpful in the days, weeks, months, and years to come - since caring for children frequently involves a variety of rather interesting surprises and challenges – only some of which involve bodily fluids. I am convinced that the parents-to-be in our family will handle it all with grace under pressure; they have already demonstrated that they can do so!
The real beauty of it is that as they demonstrate the flexibility needed to navigate life’s bumps, their daughter will be observing that skill in action – and she will be learning a lot about how to do it herself. Ahhhhh!