Comparing or Sharing?

First, thank you for the all the great tips about Curly Hair Care! I should note that I do use Suave for Arun's hair and I love that product for his hair. It is also super cheap, which is a bonus. The thing with Anjali is two-fold - she has curly hair AND sensitive skin. We have an appointment with a pediatric dermatologist to see if eczema is an issue. We do not think it is, but we need to rule it out. In the meantime, I am careful with what I use.

Anyway.........The other day, I posted about Arun recognizing the word "zoo". After publishing, I felt sheepish that perhaps I was bragging so I decided to cut the paragraph out of which basically amounted to a Boast Post. However, Jenny had commented on it so it seemed silly to have her comment out there which made no sense. So, I added the paragraph back in. I hated the perception of being a braggart, but truly - I am so damned excited about the prospect of my kids reading. I have been collecting children's books for years in the fervent hope that I would someday get to share them. Last week, when Arun recognized the word "zoo", my stomach did little flips because I was so thrilled. It makes me tingle to think that in a few years, we will be reading books together.

I try to be conscientious about bragging - I feel so lucky that I have Mojavi and Chocolate Covered Susan with whom I can talk about these little things and feel okay that they know I am not trying to be competitive. Besides, I care for their daughters deeply, have seen both of them grow up since newborns and I love hearing about their accomplishments, too. In fact, over the past 2 years, Susan and I have watched our children hop scotch past each other with all the milestones. Back and forth....back and forth...... back and forth..... We have been able to see firsthand how unique a child can be in his/her development. We know that in the end, most kids wind up at the same point eventually so it does not matter who "did it first".

There was a short time in the beginning of our playgroup's life where we had a Competitive Mom in our midst- and oh God, it was miserable. There is such a fine, thin, teeny line between "comparing" and "sharing" - that mother constantly crossed the line and often hurt our feelings in the process. It was a good lesson for Susan and I - as such, we are very frank with each other now about such things. I would be utterly horrified if she ever thought I was trying to make her feel bad by my talking about something that Arun has done that maybe her daughter has not done yet.

The same applies to the Innernets. I want to use this space to share my excitement about my kids, but rest assured, my intent is to never, ever make someone feel bad if their kid had not reached the same milestone yet. I love reading about all of your kids' accomplishments. I hope you feel the same.