Harley has started walking. It actually happened a while ago. When we were in Cape Town, she’d take a couple baby steps (toddler steps?) on her own before coasting or screaming for us to give her a hand. Now, she pretty much can walk on her own although she still prefers a hand, and she doesn’t seem to like thresholds, preferring to be carried over them like a cliched bride. Walking with her is adorable, and I try to do it as often as possible – we walk to and from the car when I drop her off at school or pick her up. I figure the more she walks (even holding my hand) the stronger those muscles will get and the more confident she will be on her own two feet.
While it is incredibly cute and an important milestone, she walks really, really slowly. It can take an extra few minutes just to get to the car, or to walk to the school building. While I sometimes feel like carrying her to speed up the process (and sometimes I need to when we’re running late), I try to resist the urge as much as possible. She is so excited to be able to walk, and I’m so happy for her. Plus, it’s really important that she gets all the opportunities to practice her walking, running and whatever else. But it’s slow and means that I have to have a lot of patience. And those baby steps and their required patience remind me a lot of other aspects of my life that require patience.
The emigration process is slow. Well, not all the time. As I explained a few months back, it has a real “hurry up and wait” feel to it. Nothing will happen for weeks on end, and then there’s a flurry of activity. Things are falling into place, and Dean and I only have a little more admin left to do before his consulate appointment in June. Even though nothing major has happened, the admin stuff we needed is slowly getting sorted out. Baby steps to getting all the documents together – it’s so slow that I haven’t felt like I can really write an update on what’s happened, like the increments of moving forward are so tiny, and yet we are already so much closer to our goal than we were.
Then there are my other pursuits. I told you all that I wanted to start making videos. Towards that end, I’ve been doing Facebook Live videos every Sunday and Wednesday evening. I then do some basic editing and throw those videos up on my YouTube channel the next day (Mondays and Thursdays). The videos get decent traction on Facebook, and I will try to do a post soon sharing what I’ve learned so far. On YouTube, I get almost no views, in part because I have almost no subscribers. It’s a process, though, and I know that. I haven’t put money behind my channel yet, and these things can take a long time when done organically. Baby steps, but I will eventually grow and get there – please go like and subscribe and stuff if you want to help me grow (or just to see cute videos of Harley walking in while I’m trying to do my Facebook Lives).
Even this blog, this space on the internet of mine. I love it and it has grown so much from those early pregnancy blogging days. I’ve come a long way since then, but I still have so much that I want to do. I used to write every day, something that I’ve been unable to do lately but would like to do once more. I want to see my community grow – it’s not about traffic or numbers. I just love when I get little messages or comments from people who have been moved by my words, thoughts or experiences. It takes time, though, but eventually, those baby steps get me to reach more people, to connect with this geeky, parent tribe.
I never considered myself a very patient person. I wanted to work hard, play hard and see results right away. I think that’s why I hate the fact that I need to do that whole diet and exercise thing – I want to just lose the weight now and not go through all the baby steps to get there! Parenting, though, has made me much more patient. I’m happier to be in the moment, to appreciate the journey… probably because I’m so tired that I’m glad to move a bit slower, to appreciate all the tiny steps along the way.
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