The Baby Blues

"While the children are yet in their infancy feed them from the breast of heavenly grace, foster them in the cradle of all excellence, rear them in the embrace of bounty. Give them the advantage of every useful kind of knowledge. Let them share in every new and rare and wondrous craft and art. Bring them up to work and strive, and accustom them to hardship. Teach them to dedicate their lives to matters of great import, and inspire them to undertake studies that will benefit mankind."
-'Abdu'l-Baha

I am constantly thinking about this quotation from the Baha'i Writings and how it applies to the stage of life we are in with Everett, particularly the part about accustoming them to hardship. I really ponder HOW to do this. I finally realized that things that seem small and trivial really ARE hardships to him, and that this will continually be redefined. When I first read it as a non-parent I only thought of big stuff like cars and houses - stuff that doesn't matter at all to an 18 month old. Helping him learn how to deal with the little stuff will hopefully help give him tools to deal with the bigger hardships in life. And let me add that the stuff we consider "little" is worth crying and screaming for 10 minutes about to an 18 month old. Try doing THAT every now and then. Exhausting!

So having this conversation with Eric led us to ponder some possible titles of blues songs an 18 month old would sing...

"The Googa is Gone" (Googa = cracker)
"They Keep Lockin' Me Out the Fridge"
"The Stuck in my Crib Blues"
"Dreams of Turning Doorknobs"
"The Good Stuff's Always Out of Reach"

I'm sure you have some good ones to add. Especially you, Dad. :)