How Baby Blogs Die

Wow. So I went on a bike ride one Tuesday instead of updating and here we are, 2 months later with no posts. I did notice a while back that various parenting blogs on the net usually do seem to die out around this point in the kid's life.

And now I think I'm starting to understand why.

Reason 1: Kid changes

Also, the kid and me were a bit
sick for a week or so...

Cleo has gotten a lot more mobile. She does her bear walk crawl everywhere, hoists herself up in to standing position, and has been experimenting with what she can do as a biped. It won't be long now until she's officially a toddler. Oddly, this is LESS exhausting than it was before. Her independence means she doesn't constantly have to be entertained and that she doesn't get frustrated when she gets into odd positions.

What it does requires, though, is more attention. Every few minutes a glance at the kiddo is required just to make sure she isn't trying to eat a paperclip that fell off the table or that she hasn't gotten hold of something easily destroyed. For example, the other day, she put the iMote for our Apple TV into a half full bottle of water. She was very proud of herself and VERY frustrated when dad didn't appreciate this and was rushing around trying to find rice and a ziplock bag in order to have half a hope of salvaging the device. (Note: The iMote did dry off and is working.)

This means less large blocks of time where I can sit down and focus and more small blocks of time. It's tough to adapt to. Add in:

Reason 2: Life Changes

The stable situation of me having every Tuesday off is in the past. For the last 2 months I have, more often than not, had to work Tuesday. Things like Cleo's upcoming birthday, Thanksgiving, X-Mas, etc, mean I have to ration out my leave time. That means less 3 day spans of time for dad and kiddo. Truthfully, Cleo is much lower maintenance now than she was 6 months ago and doesn't require constant parental attention. When left with her grandmother for less than 4 hours at a time, I doubt she even really realizes we've gone!

Still, this means, once again, less solid blocks of time for dad where I would normally have the time to leisurely access my muse. Leading to:

Reason 3: Dad has to Change!

A friend of mine with kids once told me that the moment you get things figured out, it all changes. Now I'm starting to understand HOW this happens. My life has changed from one of exhausting but dependable daily slogs to a fragmented existence. Learning how to write during these fragments is HARD!

For example, I recently learned that after our morning shower, I have about 20-30 minutes to write. She has been entertained in the morning, fed, changed, cleaned, and is now relaxed and able to relax and play by herself during this time. I have to pull up a zafu to a stepstool in her room and write right then! No checking e-mail or reddit, start right in! NOW! DO IT!

(Repeat for whatever other fragments of time I'm able to identify during the day.)

Anyhow, if I had to say why some of those blogs die off, it's probably this challenge to change your habits that causes things to stall. Doing this is wildly uncomfortable and takes practice, but, as I hope this blog post proves, I'm at least STARTING to get better at it.  I really want to keep this blog going, though, so I hopefully I keep adapting!