Six Months

We celebrated today's milestone last night by partying all the live-long night. Mariana was up every three hours, and I was deeply considering giving her a potato or something to gnaw on. I just made myself laugh with that visual...Baby gnawing on potato, I think I'm a bit punchy.

I've learned a few things (and I litterally mean few) in 6 months. Here's my lazy way of celebrating 6 months of Mae.

Partial List of Stuff I Learned Having a Special Needs Child

1. Every single human being has special needs. Having something diagnosed makes everything a little easier. How do you diagnose that child who is a lazy student? What if it's because school is too easy, or what if it's because school is too hard or what if it's because biting off a hangnail is more fun than math?
2. Special needs people are first and foremost human beings and therefor wonderful and annoying in their individuality.
3. Babies, even special ones, are jerks. They do what you don't expect and then right when you have it all figured out, change the rules. And they have the nerve to object to their toes being nibbled off.
4. Reading too much can make a person cynical, but it can also fool a person into thinking that good parenting can "cure" all the problems. It can't. It won't. You will fail at a bunch of stuff anyway. Failure won't kill anyone, but hopefully it'll make you humble.
5. Developing a better relationship with your spouse will save your sense of self. It is way too seductive to make this thing the center of your universe, and thus lose the fact that you have value with or without this wonderful being.
6. Developing a better relationship with God is the fastest way to get answers. It's always a surprise and yet not a surprise when I am struggling with something and I remember, "Oh yeah, I might want to have a chat with God about that." Almost immediately one of two things happens: I read something or talk to someone who helps, or I gain the insight that this particular thing is not a priority and I can let it go.
7. Babies will start squawking the minute you sit down to type, thus reinforcing the jerkyness they posses. Luckily they are cute.

Hey! I'm stahvin' here!