The Daily Grind

I'm amazed at how different things are now compared to just a year ago.  It's not just the big things that I'm talking about (look who's running all over the apartment now?), but the little things that amaze me these days.

Grocery shopping has changed dramatically.  I used to carry a tiny infant in a car seat carrier to the store, place him in the cart, and shop until he got fussy and we needed to go home.  Now, I carry a toddler in with me, put him in the seat in the cart (where he promptly changes position from facing me to looking out at the store), and am lucky if I get a quarter of the grocery shopping done before he gets mad that he can't run all over the store with me.

I used to snap that same carrier into the stroller and wheel him into the library, where he would look at the books in amazement if he wasn't snoozing.  Now, I strap him into the stroller, wheel him directly to the children's section, hand him a book, and then rush through scanning the shelves before he starts getting loud and I get funny looks.  If only I'd let him walk, that's what he seems to say to me.

When it was time to eat, I used to breastfeed.  We'd cuddle up on the sofa and spend some quality time together, just us two.  Now, he's in a high chair, feeding himself, and throwing food on the floor for his furry sister to clean up.

I used to go to the bathroom alone.  Now I have a visitor who tries to climb into the tub or toss his toys in the toilet or unroll the toilet paper down the hallway and into the living room.  I used to know where everything was, but that changed dramatically when 2.0 started picking things up and running away with them, shoving them under the couch or behind the TV or in the laundry hamper or throwing them over the baby gate into the kitchen.

The daily grind used to be so easy, so predictable.  Now it's never the same twice.

I'm finding that I really like it that way.  :)