I confess my mistakes not to flagellate myself, but to reflect and think on ways to make new mistakes tomorrow. Cheers! To new mistakes!
The two mistakes I made are similar in nature. They both were made with good intentions.
#1 My daughter was enjoying something…so I thought she’d enjoy something else
Oh look, a happy baby. She’s lying on her back looking at the shower curtain. I put her on the bathmat while I was showering and she was having a grand time looking at the monkey motif on our curtain. I smiled at her. I chatted with her. I lapped up her grins. And then I made the mistake of thinking, “But wouldn’t she be sooo much happier in her jungle (read: activity mat thingy)?” Let’s put her there! La la la. Good intentions, good intentions. Move her & bam!- not so happy anymore. Why would I mess with something that wasn’t broken? Because a shower curtain isn’t as cool or “stimulating” as a stuffed toucan hanging down in front of your face? Oh, Katie. Leave well enough alone. That’s why it’s called “well enough,” because it is, in fact, enough.
#2 I knew my daughter was sleepy, but since she was alert and chatty, I decided to show off her charm to other people
Wha? She wasn’t acting sleepy, so I went against that little voice in my head that was warning me of her impending implosion and decided to demonstrate her effervescence and wonderfulness to some other grown-ups. Of course you should sit on my lap and look out at the world! Of course I should move you around a lot to show off your best sides! Of course I should be surprised when it backfires! What do you mean I should hide your face away and cuddle and rock you? How will everyone know how cute you are?! Oh right, no one thinks you’re cute when you’re yelling and turning so red. Remember that, Katie. Besides, look how sweet she is when she’s sleeping too!
So I meddled in both instances to try and either “improve” a situation or gloat over the wonders of my kid. I guess I should remember to sit on my hands sometimes and meddle for good at other times.
From the Land of Pleasant Parenting 
Oh yeah. Been there on both counts. One thing worth noting. The shower curtain isn’t just “good enough” it’s perfect. It’s good, as you know, to let kids get fully engrossed in whatever draws them. That starts in infancy amazingly. It’s also easy to teach them from an early age to look to you for entertainment and not to trust their innate attention and drive. I have had to remind myself soooo many times to sit on my hands, and just let a baby “be” – especially when what he’s doing doesn’t seem that interesting to me. It’s tough, but we’re all getting better at it.
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