Simply Winging It

As with many aspects of life parenting presents you with many different choices to make and paths to choose along the way. I have realised recently that I am not one to follow any which way guide on how to parent Leo, I just take everything as it comes.

You could say that I am simply winging this parenting lark, taking the good with the bad, the happy and the sad and making decisions as I go along. This means that I don't set un-realistic goals and I just let time work it's magic. 

Of course we make plans and we have structure in our lives, I guess that is why bedtime is a fun process and not a battle to keep him in bed. It is why he wakes up fully refreshed and ready to face the day ahead of him. When I say I am winging it what I mean is I go with whatever life throws my way, I have never set a age where I thought 'I want Leo in a bed by the time he is...' or 'I will have the bottle off Leo by the time he is...' to me they are un-realistic goals that I couldn't reasonably enforce. 

They are simply aspects that evolve in their own time and I am not one to want to rush that along. Every change that happens in Leo's life is ultimately governed by him, and the last couple of months have been full of change. Leo made the transition from cot to bed, he began to leave blanket and his milk bottle behind during the day, he even started nursery and in recent weeks he has given up the bottle for good. 

Each change has been easier than I ever anticipated, and I am sure it is because we have just let time work it's magic. Leo has got to a point where he realises he no longer needs his bottle, and he understands that babies have bottles. He realises that he is now a big boy... Or a big girl depending on which time of the day you catch him! It was as though we had both come to a mutual understanding and decided that we weren't going to fight each other over it. Leo was given his beaker with squash as a compromise (water really would have been pushing it!) and we haven't looked back since. 

For the most part Leo is a really easy going little guy, of course I won't plaster over the tantrums because of course they go hand in hand with a two year old, but throughout everything he always has a smile on his face.

I like to think my 'winging it' attitude reflects my relaxed approach to parenting. Everything that happens is played by ear, if it works great. If not then we will find another way to reach the goal. If something hasn't worked out this time around, we wait a few months and try again. We are currently on the cusp of potty training and this is something that we are being very relaxed about, we don't want to push Leo to fast to soon. It is something that we need to address when he is 100% ready. The potty has been out since he was about 18 months old, but until a few months ago he wouldn't even sit on it. We have progressed in the sense that he will sit on it these days, he tells us he needs a wee and we all sit there in suspense wondering if this will be the moment that he takes that first pee. I wonder if I should reach for the camera... Then... Leo gets up and declares that he is done. Only for us to discover he hasn't actually been. 

As with everything else I am sure that first wee-wee on the potty is not very far away. We will keep on winging it in our relaxed approach and we will continue to watch Leo flourish.