Hello again, Hivians! It’s been a while since I last posted here. My family and I had been staying over at my grandma's house for the past few weeks. Also, the topic I have decided to write about proved to be more ambitious than what I had expected. It took me a week to finish this writeup! Anyway, I have always wanted to write about this topic.. Hoping one day, a very special person to me gets to read this.
As mentioned in my introduction, I have already been here for quite a while. However, my posts have primarily centered on the crypto market. This time, I wanted to blog about something that has been consuming my life for the past two years: motherhood.
Roughly two years ago, I gave birth to my first (and only??) child, a lovely little girl. Through her, I have become a mother. Motherhood for me was no easy feat. I remember sending my mom a message, two months after giving birth, that I began to appreciate her efforts more now that I have become a mother too. I am not sure how it was with other moms but for me, I sure had a hard time figuring out how to answer my child's every need as well as managing all the physical and emotional stress that came with being a mother.
As my child grew older, however, I slowly discovered that motherhood came with more gifts than trials. My child gave me the heartiest laughs I ever laughed. I got blessed with a new best friend, duuut baby girl. I don't think I had ever been with anyone as much as I had with her as I am a stay-at-home Mom. Even in the toilet, I usually bring her with me. And oddly enough, I sometimes feel she knows me more than anyone else (aside from my husband, of course). But perhaps, the best gift motherhood gave me was that I got to discover the world once again through my baby's eyes.
As someone new to this world, my child learns something new everyday. She was a very curious being like most babies. I am thankful that I get to be with her in most of her expeditions. With each of her discoveries, I get to see the world differently. It was a helluva ride filled with juicy lessons.. and I'm pretty sure there are more to come. Let me share with you what we have discovered so far.
##The Best Toys
Babies are very curious beings and my EXTENSIVE research on the internet regarding parenting told me that I should stimulate her curiosity.. For her to be AS. SMART. AS. MOMMY. (I know, I started out as an obnoxious Mom, haha). The best tools that have been suggested are toys and one of the first things my daughter taught me is how to choose one.
As a first time mom, I wanted badly to pamper my little girl. So, when she was an infant, I bought branded rattles, soft books and other infant toys that cost us a fortune. Most of the time, though, she would just ignore them and it would make me upset because they were so expensive. One day, she got hold of an empty water bottle. She squished it and she liked the clinking sound. She wouldn’t let go of it. SHE WAS PLAYING WITH IT. And she stopped crying every time we gave it to her. It was a toy she enjoys. So, my husband and I began saving all our empty bottles of water and juice. And the neighbors would laugh seeing a child lugging around an empty bottle in her stroller.
Another one of her favorite toys: baby wipes. Her other favorite toys: medicine droppers, nappy creams, and her diapers. These are stuff she saw us use everyday when she was an infant. And she was more eager to explore them than those expensive toys. Right now, as a toddler, her favorite toys are Usana medicine bottles. She stacks them like she does in building blocks.
I, then, started to understand that my child is exploring the world and she is more interested with things she sees us use everyday than the random toy.. To be honest, she learned more of the world with those everyday things than the toys she would probably use only while she was infant.
There was no need to buy her expensive toys for her to be happy.. As my husband said, we should just let her choose her toy rather than force her to play with something we have chosen for her. Fun fact: I named my daughter after the Irish word for ‘freedom’. Let her have the freedom to choose.
For now this will be all that I have to say, it’s gonna be a long read if I put everything in here all at once. Tomorrow I’ll continue with my daughter’s exploration of food.
By the way if you’re also a mother or if you happen to have taken care of a child, I hope you can share your discoveries too down in the comments. I would eagerly read your story. Children are a thing of wonder. And it’s always refreshing to see the world from their eyes.
That’s all! This has been your Crypto Mom, Lavie..
See you Tomorrow!