“We’re in a phase” is my new favorite phrase to use when describing year two of my growing boy. We’re in a phase of tantrums and big feelings and hidden hunger and Hot Wheels and construction vehicles. We’re in a phase of “I don’t want to” responses and “I want to tell you something” as he lays down for bed only to not actually have anything to say when he gets my attention. We’re in a phase of Paw Patrol and bedtime pullups and reading Little Blue Truck books every.single.night. We’re in a phase of a bunch of things that I know will not last. Good, bad or indifferent, it’s a phase, and what I’m learning is that if I can frame unwanted behavior in my mind as something temporary, I tend to have a little more patience withhim and for him during a meltdown. When I can remind myself that so much of this season as a toddler will be over before I know it, I find myself slowing down to sit and “play cars” with him when he asks me to. I sing the song three times in a row (even though it makes me feel crazy sometimes) because how many more nights do we have left that he is asking me to sing him to sleep? How long until he figures out that I can’t carry a tune!
Before I became a parent, some years of my life passed quickly, but after being a parent, time almost doesn’t make sense. Can you relate? I’ve never known weeks, months and years to pass this fast before! How are we about to celebrate three whole years of our little boy? Weren’t we just introducing baby food last month?! Wasn’t he just learning to walk to me? How did we get here so fast?!
If I could encourage you this month, this summer, to do something for yourself as a parent, it would be this: remind yourself that you’re in a phase and whatever phase that might be, savor the sweet, pray through the bad, and for the love of all things sacred and true, pay attention to your life. Be where your feet are. It’s a phase.
-by Destini McPherson
