Good Parenting Choices

A lady admonished me for not having sunscreen on Laurel the other day. Actually, what she said was "Bad mommy." I'm not kidding...that's literally what she said. Can you imagine going up to a stranger and saying that? Thanks to good parenting choices made by my parents, I know better than that.

My sister's in town and today she asked me if it was weird to be a mom. It's getting hard to remember what it was like to NOT be a mom. But I guess the weird part of it is the things that I think about. It's not even necessarily the things that are most important...but there's little ideas and fears that creep into my brain every day. One of the things I think about as a novice mother is whether or not I'm making good parenting choices.

Today I took Laurel to her pediatrician. She's been unusually fussy, particularly at night and when laying down, and she was grabbing at her ear. No fever, but when I called the office they said to bring her in, because the doctor always likes to see them in person if there's danger of an ear infection. Even though it was a busy day at the office, the pediatrician took his time with me, and more importantly with Laurel. He played a little game with his stethoscope before he listened to her lungs, and did the same thing before looking in her ears. Her ears turned out to be fine, and he reminded me that babies fuss for all kinds of reasons, but never once made me feel silly for bringing her in.

When I left the office, I enjoyed that feeling I get whenever I feel confident that I've made a good parenting decision.

By the way, Laurel normally wears a hat and is covered up by the stroller visor when we go out in the middle of the day. We were walking only a few blocks to the library for story time and I left her hat in the car by accident. It was very sunny that day, but come on...it's April in the northern hemisphere, and it's five minutes outside.

Not that I need to justify it to you, or that lady, or to anybody else.