this post was submitted on 30 Sep 2023
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Having an infant is boring and I can't wait to have a toddler. (self.parenting)
submitted 1 year ago by RGB3x3 to c/parenting
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As of today, I have a 1 month old. She is amazing and I love her so much, but she's boring! Don't get me wrong, she's difficult and my wife and I haven't slept a good night in a month, but all she does is eat, sleep, and poop. There's basically no interaction.

I'm so looking forward to being able to laugh with her, play with her, and generally start teaching her the world.

How do you feel? What's your favorite stage of child development?

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[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago

She is amazing and I love her so much, but she’s boring! ... How do you feel?

You aren't wrong. And so many people will come for you with pitchforks and torches for having said so. But you aren't wrong. Before ~ 6 weeks when they get social smiling, they really are potatoes that you care for. They have lots of amazing development going on inside, but on the outside you water, fertilize, give sunlight, and weed your potato and your potato ... sits there.

I actually call this The Grub Phase because they remind me of grubs: eating, eliminating waste, growing, leaking fluids in weird ways (not that this stops, mind you, a common statement exiting my lips at the toddler stage is, "Why are you sticky?"), and wriggling/writhing but mostly not going anywhere.

What’s your favorite stage of child development?

I love the lying phase which occurs between 5 and 7 on average. It is also the boundary testing phase. I love seeing what children think might be possible. They sometimes have the freedom of unconstrained creativity to come up with some solutions that are possible and while inelegant are a fresh new approach to problems. Of course, the payment for all of this delight is dealing with all of their sassy pushback on everything and sometimes undetectable lies due to their plausability, but it is worth it IMHO.