Choosing the gnomes

The cold weather continues here in Minnesota, and I am (not so) secretly happy for the chance to spend large portions of each day in my wonderful flannel gnome pjs, courtesy of Beth, who knows all about my love-hate relationship with the little guys. Of course, sometimes I forget I am wearing them and I wonder why the mailman or a floral delivery guy is looking at me like I am the craziest thing he has ever seen. And then I remember. Gnome legs.

This past weekend we got together with some of the moms (and one of the dads, too) and babies from our Mom and Baby class, here at our house. There was some intensive cleaning flurries in the days prior. No one used the bathroom, but let me tell you it was beautiful in there! The babies had a great time with each other, and I’m sure that later that day everyone did exactly what we did...

...talk about all the parenting choices other people are making that we would never make! Cora is the baby with the latest bedtime, but she also sleeps the most at night. One of the other babies goes to be at 6pm - and her mom doesn’t get home from work until 5:30! I couldn’t stand only spending thirty minutes an evening with Cora! Of course, I am also the bad mom who drinks coffee! Despite all the variety in parenting philosophies and practices, though, the babies all seem to be working out just fine.

Would Cora’s personality be different if I abandoned my daily cup of caffeinated beverage? If she went to bed at 6pm and only slept until 3am (yikes)? If she had to take a nap twice a day at the same times and we let her cry it out if she wasn’t sleepy?

I admit, I’m not interested in finding out. I’d rather try harder to remember that there are many paths to the same place, there are many right choices, and there are many good moms making the best decisions they can. And, come on, who's the one in the gnome pants?