Lessons from a two year old.

If you are a new mother you will learn a lot of things on this journey. The things you didn't even realize from your much younger siblings that you saw grow.  I think memory does us a disservice when we can't remember most of such things from a young age. Like how you grew up and later on your siblings. 

This is when parenthood or in my case babysitting, comes in handy. There's a whole new dimension of growth you experience in the care of a child. Watching a child grow is most definitely one of the things everyone ought to experience in their lifetime. 

My baby made two years recently and not only has he been a pain in the butt, but an educator, an uplifter, a comforter! 

Here are some of the lessons you will most likely learn from babies;

• Being your own cheerleader. 

We adopted this thing of telling our baby "good boy" to encourage him to do things. So every time he did even the obvious things like eating his food, we showered him with praises of "good boyyy". We have subsequently slowed down on the cheering because trust me, it gets exhausting but this has not stopped him from cheering himself on! 

You will hear him in the kitchen shouting " a goodu boyy" after stacking the plates together, finally wearing his pants right and not in one leg. 

This goes on to say that even when no one is in your corner, cheer yourself on to keep you back on track. Most at times, we crave people's support but the most meaningful support will always come from within us. 

• Relentlessness. 

If you have taken care of a baby you know their relentlessness is on a whole other level! If he wants your attention, you will have to give it to him or else you will never do anything else. 

So this baby has this thing where when he wants to talk to you, he will call your name and if you don't respond he will not stop calling. Even if you are looking right at him, he wants verbal consent. 

This has taught me that we can always get what we want if we become relentless, cry if you have to (but please do not cry ugly). If they can't see the weight of our grievances, they might see the need in our persistence. 

• Accepting that you need help. 

When this baby can't afford to reach something he wants, he will drag you by the clothes to where he sees the thing.  He still can't open the fridge so whenever he wants something from there he drags you right to it and says like one word of what he wants. 

Yes, we don't want to look vulnerable but where will your strength lead you when you can't get the things you want, and yet someone could help you if you asked? 

Accepting that you need help is one of the great things you will ever do for yourself, your mental health, general well-being. 

• Always being alert. 

You know when babies ask for something and when you deny them, they cry right away? Yeah, every baby does that. What this one does though, is that even if he can't breathe from the crying, he will always respond whenever you call him. He always leaves room for "what if they change their decision". 

Whenever life knocks you down, don't completely shut down and fail to realize when another opportunity opens up because you're sulking. Grieve but do with attentively. 

• Appreciating personal space. 

I don't know whether we should be worried but this baby will go out and play for 30 minutes then come inside and rest for three hours. Just seated alone on the couch relaxing and possibly watching TV. This goes so much far as to depict how he appreciates personal space and maybe rest, we are still figuring that out. 

Spare some time to yourself once in a while, just you and your thoughts. You will appreciate how great this can affect your life with time. 

Well, being around kids will teach you lots of small things that you will never have expected to learn.