Things my son has taught me

Yesterday was my son's 3rd birthday.  It is quite unbelievable that he is so grown up, a proper little person.  Before he was born I dreamt of the things I would teach him - good manners, how to read and write, how to play musical instruments, how to be kind, how to swim and SCUBA dive..... the list goes on.  Little did I realise that he would teach me far more than I would ever teach him.  Here is a list of the things I have been taught

• babies do not do as they are told
• babies do not do as the books tell them
• babies do as they damn well please
• breastfeeding is not as easy as it looks
• looking after a baby is not as easy as it looks
• you do not know what tired means until you have a baby
• you do not know what busy means till you have a baby (and this comes from somebody who worked full time, trained at karate, was in a band and did a part time MA all at the same time)
• you do not know what love is until you have a baby
• I have more patience than I ever thought
• I need my friends and family more than I ever thought
• Some of my friends were not really my friends
• toddlers are cleverer than you think
• just when you think everything has settled down, it all changes
• I can think on my feet faster than I ever thought
• I can apologise to a toddler when I have not behaved well
• I can find the strength within me to protect my children where I wouldn't find it to protect myself.
• I am better at multitasking than I thought possible
• Take any chance to sleep
• Without sleep I am a bad mother (see previous point)
• Without food I am a bad mother
• I do not need clean clothes or a shower (although it would be nice)
• A bit of wee/poo/sick is not the end of the world
• Always anticipate a bodily fluid incident (particularly when changing boy's nappies)
• You forget the bad stuff and you miss the good stuff

Dear son,

Sometimes I'm not a very good student, but I have tried my best for 3 years and I will go on trying.  I love you more than anything little man.

Mummy x