Creative

I'm not really into babies. I never ask to hold other people's baby nor do I ooh and aah. I don't cherish the fleeting newborn stage.

And now I have two children.

Children.
That's a plural that now applies to my life. Weird.

So yeah, now I have two. An almost two year old and a two week old. I can't wait for the next 50 weeks to fleet on by. I know I'm in the minority here. Lots of people write about making sure to take the time to experience the newborn and baby moments with the second or third child. "Because they'll fly by so fast and you'll miss them."

But I cannot have a conversation with my two week old. She can't control her body or hold her head up. She needs to nurse about every two to five hours, day and night. My body is flabby, but I can't work out yet.

Compare that to my two year old. He is learning so much every day, exploding vocabulary and comprehension. We are starting to talk about ideas, albeit basic. We are having reflective conversations. He helps with dishes, laundry, and cleaning. He loves to take walks, make observations, read books, practice letters and counting.

Terrible twos? Nope.

Yes, he is also having to learn to control his emotions and coping skills. But those are such important lessons he'll use for the rest of his life. And there's so, so much going on in his brain right now. It's fantastic.

So I'll have to wait patiently until my little girl gets to be a year old and starts to get more interesting and catch up with her brother.


What does that have to do with creativity? I am shaping the creative minds of my children. I am responsible for their early brain development, creating an environment where they learn to love learning, exploring, adventuring, and creating.

I was poking around some blogs a month or so ago, looking for other moms who did not really relish being moms. Not that they didn't love their kids, rise to the task, find things to enjoy about child-rearing, but other women who weren't gooey about mom-ness. I found a blog post by an artist. She wrote about the difficulty of setting aside her art to raise the kids, not having time to create, feeling that sense of loss that goes with an artist who cannot make art.

But then she started to realize that having kids was potentially the most creative thing she could ever do. It's a very different sort of creative. The "creation" has such an interactive part of the process. And you don't finish up in a month and stick it on the wall. Ongoing creativity. Fluidly adjusting to changing needs and growth.

And that cheered me up. If I can channel my need for creativity into my parenting, I'll be a happier mom and artist.