Balance

The other day, Imp took a step. Okay, maybe it was more of a lift-a-foot-up-and-fall, but I think it counted. He stood, unassisted, for at least 20 seconds, and then he leaned, stepped once, and tried to step again until he fell, smiling, into my lap. Of course, we immediately got out the camera and tried to record it, but repeats are not yet in order. He is so close -- we are so soon to be screwed.

It's funny though, we've been waiting for him to take the first solo steps for a while. Imp was an early crawler, an early stander-with-support, and an early cruiser, but then he was content. He could get where he wanted to go, and didn't really seem motivated to walk. He never has really been that into the thing where you hold the kids hands and they walk with you. He prefers to lift his legs up and hang like a little monkey. Of course, friends of mine with one 2.5 year old and one 7 month old are ecstatic that they're second child isn't crawling yet, and find it amusing that we are so excited about Imp walking -- I have a feeling the handful we already have with Imp is just going to get more... handfully.

In the meanwhile, I have started TAing (Teaching Assistant) and taking voice lessons again. The TA thing is totally voluntary -- as a postdoc, I don't have to do any teaching, but my TA experience in grad school was so minimal that I felt I needed something more. So I talked to one of the teaching-only faculty here, and she suggested I could TA for her. I'm learning tons, but man is it taking up a lot of time. I have to be even more careful planning my week to make sure I don't slack in my research. And then I added voice lessons -- not even weekly -- but still, even more time. However, TAing and the voice lessons are something I look forward to so much right now. They are a good portion of what is keeping me going, as my research has been a good portion searching and not so much finding. After my first voice lesson, I came back to the lab and one of my colleagues looked at me and said "Maggie, you look so... happy!" The TAing is essential to my career development. The lessons are one of the few things I am doing totally for me. So, makes life more hectic, but somewhat necessary things.

So as Imp tries to figure out the necessary muscle movements for walking, and I try to figure out how much I can squeeze into my schedule and not go nuts, both Imp and I are figuring out a very important skill -- balance. Him on his feet, me with my time. It strikes me that life is often about balance, from the day we first try to lift our heads up on our shoulders, we are trying to learn new ways to balance. I have tried to balance busy schedules many times -- sometimes with disastrous results -- but each time is a new learning experience. A lot of what I'm balancing now is essential to either my career, my well-being, and my capacity as a mother. But while falling for Imp is a learning experience, for me it might not be such a good idea. We'll see how this semester goes...