It's still early in 2017. The year holds much promise. For one, it's no longer 2016, which ended with a devastating election that has seriously shattered my faith in the intelligence, morals, and heart of American citizens and continued to leave me sickened and disgusted at our country, something that I am not sure I can ever "un-see"/forget. I am certainly now "woken up" out of innocence and naïveté and am motivated and spurred to activism in terms of standing up to injustice, racism, inequity, and evil, spending time and money on causes that I feel will make our country one of which I can again be proud, and like I thought it was before The Divider was chosen as our leader and the GOP took the reins.
In our family, we have made some leaps forward in the parenting department. On Christmas Day, Iver took his last drink of mama's milk-from-the-tap. For all the tantrums, screaming, and defiance of the last year, I was surprised how well he took to "Mama has a boo-boo; Dr. said no more..." It took a bit of topical beet juice to convince him, and cabbage leaves to help with engorgement on my part, and having in-laws around to distract him really helped, but weaning him off totally was a breeze compared to getting him in a carseat! I am loving and feeling much more energized and freed at not being tethered by frequent feedings and enjoying daddy taking a more active role in the sleep routines and comfort now that mommy has less unique gifts to offer.
With the withdrawal of milk as he turned two also came the change from diapers into "undies". We kept a tarp down in our house for a couple of weeks, but Iver has virtually been accident-free and often dry for naps, too, including at "school" for many days and even on outings away from the house! Potty training a strong-willed toddler was a task I was dreading, but I've been pleasantly surprised at how painless this, too, has been, compared to the other battles (solids, straps, sleep, etc.) we've fought over the past two years.
While "parenting" somehow never seemed to be getting better/easier despite the passage of time, which left me feeling quite a lot of despair, the age of two has been a game-changer. Being able to communicate and negotiate has made a huge difference. Iver has become much less defiant and more pleasant and adorable in all areas. I can see theoretically see why people have more children, if you can forget the deep and intense pain caused my so many sleepless nights, power struggles, and feeling like a failure. Is the morning here???
I have not understood God's methods many times in the last year, when my child was taking me to the brink, and with respect to the elected leaders and the party currently in positions to guide our country (which, in my opinion, is a path to more divisiveness, inequity, and destruction). However, despite my overwhelming dread that that we have extremely regressive, dark times ahead in our nation, with many unqualified and downright immoral people at the helm, I am trying to have faith that He has a plan. I can start to see things looking up for our family. I am not convinced yet that the "divided" states of America will bounce back quickly from all that has reared its ugly head in 2016, but some day in the not-too-distant future, I hope that His plan will become clear.
Until that joy is here, I'm going to try my hardest to enjoy being a good mother, a doctor, and doing some good daily in the things that are in my control. As the inspirational Martin Luther King said, "If I cannot do great things, I can do small things in a great way." Here's to moving forward in 2017, to the future, and to trying to bring some good to this very broken world.
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